Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War
by Blacklight 88
Summary: After the fall of Organization XIII three years previously the winds of war are beginning to blow drawing in new and old heros alike. Join in as a host of familiar friends and new ones alike wage a war three years in the making with the forces of darkness
1. Glossary

**Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War**

Glossary of Terms

WARRIOR- An organization started by King Mickey of Disney Castle. The group's main purpose is to act as a rapid response team to large scale Heartless or Nobody outbreaks. The group has jurisdiction in all worlds and has access to mind boggling amounts of equipment and resources. WARRIOR is split into several ranks, which are listed from lowest to, highest: Angel, Dominion, and Seraphim. The WARRIOR uniform consists of attire similar to Cloud's in Kingdom Hearts II except each side has a sleeve and shoulder plates without the Fenrir crest. However it isn't mandatory that all members of WARRIOR wear the uniform. Some famous members of WARRIOR include Sora and Riku, residents of the world Destiny Islands.

McDuck Wireless Service- A cell phone company started by Scrooge McDuck another resident of the world Disney Castle. The phone company provides phone service to any world were there is a phone produced by the company. This service comes standard to all members of WARRIOR.

Endenglory- The capitol city of the world of Radiant Garden which originally started out as a small village when Radiant Garden was being resettled and rebuilt by Squall Leonhart (Leon) and his group. The city is also the home of Squall Leonhart, Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Aerith Gainsborough, Cid Highwind, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Merlin.

Shinedown- A small inconsequential city of the world of Radiant Garden with nothing to remarkable to call it's own except the people who live there.

The Abbey- The main headquarters of WARRIOR located in the central area of Gummi Space. It is a heavily armed station that is used by WARRIOR to house and support their troops that are on duty. The station has various laser and missile defenses as well as several Gummi Ship hangers and launch bays. The Abbey also posses a large network of shield generators that can form an energy barrier around the entire base if necessary this shielding mechanism also helps round out the Abbey's already overwhelming offensive power.

Radiant Garden Defense Corps- The Radiant Garden Defense Corps or RGDC is the military of Radiant Garden. The RGDC is mainly used for peace keeping situations and small scale Heartless and Nobody outbreaks within Radiant Garden itself.


	2. Awakening

Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War

Let me just start out by saying I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. It would be pretty cool if I did but I don't so please don't sue me and now on with the story!

It was a gentle breeze that woke him up. His eyes slowly opened as if he was waking from a long sleep. He gazed around groggily it was late at night but he could see as though it were noon. He was lying under a tree on a hill that overlooked a small village.

He stood up sleepily running a hand through his silver hair and prepared to walk down the hill to the town when a thought popped into his _"I don't know where I'm at."_

He stopped and looked at his surroundings trying to recall this place and what he was doing before he woke up on this hill.

He continued to think for a moment and some images began to appear but they were slightly hazy. He saw a man with long silver hair not much unlike his own who had a large black wing sprouting from his back talking to a blond man with a large sword gripped in his right hand.

"_Hello Cloud." The silver haired man said with a grin._

"_Sephiroth." The blonde man whose name must have been Cloud snarled through gritted teeth._

"_Now Cloud you seem so…angry what ever could be wrong?" The silver haired one who was identified as Sephiroth mocked._

"_You being alive but don't worry that's about to change." Cloud's voice dripped with malice as he spoke each word. The hate he felt was showing in his eyes and he was gripping his sword so tight his knuckles were white._

_Sephiroth chuckled drawing a long katana as he did so "You really believe you can defeat me all by yourself how bold of you Cloud" He paused to take in a breath and also flex his wing "but I assure you won't win." He finished the statement with a sneer._

_It was then Cloud lost his temper and flew at Sephiroth his large buster sword meeting Sephiroth's Masamune, which caused sparks to fly from the swords._

_The last image of the dueling warriors that the man saw was one of Sephiroth taunting Cloud "Does she still cry about him at night Strife? Does she still grieve over Zack?"_

The man about fell over but fell over but he caught hold of the tree and used it as support while he clutched his head his eyes wide in their sockets.

"Ha…hav…have I seen those two before?" He managed to choke out letting his grip on the tree slip causing him to fall on his knees "I don't even remember seeing those two before but that's the only thing I do remember." He stuttered staring down at his gloved hands.

"_Wait! I don't even remember putting on these clothes!" _

It was then that he actually began to look at himself he was wearing a pair of black boots and pants along with a matching coat that went down to his ankles and zipped at the top, and was only zipped half way down so that the bottom portion flapped behind him. And the gloves he was wearing were black and fingerless showing ten pale white fingers.

After examining himself he stood back up and looked down at the town below "Maybe they will have some answers."

It took about ten minutes for him to reach the town below. The breeze had returned and his silver hair and the bottom half of his coat flapped gently flapped in the wind.

He looked at each house he passed and as hard as he tried he just couldn't recall any of them or any of the things outside or around them.

It was as he was passing a small charming stone house that the hazy memories from before began to start up again and he collapsed against the wall of the house clutching his head eyes widening once again as the hazy memories began to play.

"_You bastard! How could you ask something like that? Even Hells to good for you!" Cloud barked at Sephiroth as their swords continued to clash._

"_Bastard? Such a harsh word Cloud but don't worry I forgive." Sephiroth let a light grin grace his face as he blocked another of Cloud's strikes._

"_I don't need your forgiveness monster! You should be begging Aerith for forgiveness after what you did but you dare to stand there and mock her! For this you are unredeemable!" Cloud furiously swung his Buster Sword to emphasize each point._

"_Don't worry Strife she can cry over you too after a kill you." Sephiroth coldly shot back this final sentence sending Cloud over the edge._

_Cloud jumped back from Sephiroth and then flew forward a demonic black wing sprouting from the left side of his back, which only caused him to fly faster._

"_Fine then." Sephiroth said with a small frown on his face as he flew forward to meet his nemesis blade to blade._

It was right when the two warriors blades collided that the mans hazy image got even hazier until he finally blacked out the pain of remembering the images finally becoming too great.

He had know idea how long he was in the darkness but eventually a small ray of light began to filter through after what seemed like forever.

The man began to hear a voice a sweet almost angelic voice "Andrew I think he's coming around." It seemed to say.

"Really now let me see." He heard a slightly gruffer voice say to the angelic voice.

The man could now begin to make out faces hazy at first but slowly coming into focus. They were the faces of a women and a man the woman from what he gathered from his hazy vision had an azure blue hair that fell down to her shoulders and was about 5 ft. 7 inches while the man was dark skinned, had curly blonde hair and stood at about 6ft.

But as the images began to become less fuzzy he soon realized he wasn't hallucinating. When his vision finally became normal he realized that he was not outside anymore and on impulse jumped off the couch that he had been laying on while knocked out and away from the pair that had been observing him.

"Who are you?" He asked defensively as he felt something materialize in both of his hands.

The blue haired girl stood back looking slightly surprised while the blonde man stood in front of her raising his hands into a fighting stance.

The silver haired man took that moment to look down at his hands and saw that in each of his hands were two medium sized swords that bore a strange resemblance to two keys.

The one in the left had a white handle with two white demon wings rising from the bottom of the handle to the guard and from their sprung three crimson barrels that formed a three sided blade and the key part consisted of an equally crimson demon wing. Finally from the base of the hilt an effigy of Cerberus hung on a silver chain.

"_Redeemed Demon."_ He heard a familiar voice say in his mind as he looked at the weapon.

He then turned his attention to the weapon in his right hand. This sword was a lot simpler in design compared to the other. It handle but had two black angel wings starting from the guard and then extending down to the base of the handle. The blade was almost exactly like a katana's except that the blade was black and near the top in contrast to the other was a slightly curved black angel wing. And dropping down from the handle on silver chain not unlike the one on the other sword an effigy of a black feather hung on the chain.

As he gazed at the sword he heard the voice speak once more _"This is Fallen Angel, it and Redeemed Demon are your Keyblades." _

"Keyblades." He mimicked in a far off voice as he fell back against the wall he was standing in front of slowly sliding down until he hit the floor.

The blue haired girl ran up to him right as both of the so called Keyblades disappeared grabbing a hold of his slightly limp form while gently cradling him she asked in a soothing voice "Are you all right?"

"I'm not sure." He replied still speaking as though he was somewhere far away.

"Be careful Rain he could be dangerous! You did see those two sword things right?" The dark skinned man asked placing a hand on the girls shoulder while casting a suspicious glance at the silver haired man.

"Look at him Andrew. Before was probably just surprised him." The blue haired girl, Rain, said in the black clad mans defense.

"Fine but just be cautious is all I'm saying." The blonde man, Andrew, said casting another suspicious look at the man Rain was cradling.

Turning her attention back to the silver haired man Rain asked serenely "What's your name."

The man began to think hard for a moment what was his name? Did he even have one? The only things he seemed to remember were those two men Cloud and Sephiroth arguing and dueling.

However the more he thought about the more he began to feel like he did have a name which caused him to think even harder. He thought until some began to rise to the surface slowly at first but quickly taking shape in his mind all the while becoming more familiar until he came to a decision.

"Yes this is my name." He thought triumphantly.

"Kiru…my name is Kiru." He said thoughtfully breaking the silence that had filled the room as Rain and Andrew waited for his answer.

But it was right after he said his name that he could feel the darkness begin to overtake him again but he didn't mind.

He just kept on proudly stating over and over to himself "My name is Kiru." Before he finally lost consciousness and quietly blacked out again.

Kiru wasn't sure just how long he stayed in the darkness this time but when his eyes slowly opened this time it was daytime once again but just like last time he wasn't were he passed out when he woke up either.

He was laying in a small bed in a room with chest of drawers, a closet, a mirror, a picture of the blue haired girl, Rain, and that man, Andrew, was hanging on one of the walls, and there was also a desk with a large chair that had some familiar looking black clothes laying against it.

"_Wait those are my clothes! But then what am I wearing!" _Kiru thought fully waking instantly as his pale face turned a slight shade of red as he threw off the covers…revealing he was wearing a pair of pajamas?

Kiru stood up and walked over to the mirror to get a good look at himself. He was wearing a blue and green pair of plaid pajama pants and a slightly faded blue shirt.

"But how did I get into these clothes?" The puzzled Kiru muttered as he looked over the outfit once again.

"That was my doing" Andrew said from the door "and believe me undressin you and then having to dress you back up again was not something I enjoyed."

"Sorry for the inconvenience but you didn't have to go to all the trouble on my account." Kiru who now had an embarrassed look on his face said apologetically while he rubbed the back of his shoulder length silver hair.

"Believe me I wouldn't have but Rain insisted that you be made as comfortable as possible, Kiru wasn't it." Andrew mumbled with a slightly annoyed look on his face "but come on Rain's got breakfast ready." The older man finished as he gestured for Kiru to follow him.

Kiru did as he was told and followed Andrew down the stairs to the houses kitchen were he could smell bacon and waffles if he wasn't mistaken.

When the pair walked into the kitchen Rain greeted them with a smile before addressing Kiru "So Kiru were you comfortable when you woke up?"

"Yes, I was really comfortable and I really appreciate you two looking out for me." Kiru stuttered out, as he couldn't help but stare at the blue haired beauty that was Rain.

She was only a little bit shorter than he because he was about Andrew's height and she wore a beautiful green sundress and from what he could tell her chest size was about a 36 C and her hips and curves were perfect. But the most entrancing thing about her was were those dazzling gray eyes of hers that had almost hypnotized Kiru when he looked into them.

He caught himself staring but she didn't seem to notice as she offered him a seat at the table and placed a large plate of bacon and waffles in front of him.

It was about this time that Kiru began to notice how hungry he actually was and dug into the meal savagely.

It wasn't long before Rain and Andrew sat down at the table to eat as well.

After several long moments of silence only broken by the sounds of the three eating Rain decided to speak "So Kiru where are you from?"

Kiru looked away shamefacedly for a moment before saying quietly "I don't know…I don't remember.

"Do you have amnesia or something?" Andrew's gruffly asked.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything before I awakened on that hill out there." Kiru replied while pointing out the open kitchen window at the hill with the tree on it he had awoken under.

"That's so sad Kiru but is there anything you do remember?" Rain asked concern written all over her face.

" I see these flashes of these two men Cloud and Sephiroth. Cloud has blond hair and wields an enormous Buster Sword and Sephiroth has long silver hair like mine and a large black wing sprouting out of the right side of his back" He paused at that moment to breath before continuing "and every time I see them there always arguing and fighting with one another." Kiru finished and began to rub his temples as if even talking about the visions put him in pain.

"And that's all you do remember?" Andrew asked suspiciously.

"Yes." Was all Kiru said as he hung his head slightly looking at the floor before he looked back up at the pair and asked "So where am I now?"

"Your in Shinedown a small town in the world of Radiant Garden Kiru." Rain answered sweetly.

"Well at least I know the name of where I'm at now but by the way are you two a couple?" Kiru mischievously grinned.

"No myself and Andrew are just friends. My parents died when I was little and Andrew here took care of me since I had no living relatives." Rain answered before Andrew could.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Andrew smiled as he ruffled Rain's hair with his hand slightly.

"By the way Kiru what was up with those swords that appeared in your hands when we surprised you when you woke up for the first time." Rain asked inquisitively.

"They were called Keyblades" Kiru replied talking in a far off voice as he remembered the weapons "and I don't really no much about them either." Kiru finished his voice returning to normal as he did.

"So what are your plans Kiru?" Andrew asked as he stared into the silver haired young mans mako eyes.

"I'm not really sure to tell you the truth but since you brought it up I thinks its time I get my stuff together and head out but thank you both for you hospitality." Kiru appreciatively said as he stood up from the table and prepared to leave the kitchen.

"Wait kid you didn't even know where you were until a few seconds ago." Andrew objected as he stood up from the table.

"Yeah Kiru you could stay here with us!" Rain declared brightly causing her well-proportioned chest to bounce slightly.

"But I wouldn't want to impose you guys have already done so much for me and I don't want to be a burden on you guys." Kiru retorted as he turned to face the pair.

"Nonsense kid you wouldn't be a burden at all and besides we wouldn't feel right watching you go out their on your own not even knowing next to nothing about yourself!" Andrew protested again this time taking a step towards Kiru with Rain following suite.

"You really want me to stay?" A very shocked Kiru asked amazed by the amount of kindness these two were showing him even though they really knew him about as well as he knew himself.

"Of course we do Kiru! Andrew here may have been a little rough around you when you first woke up but the truth is we've grown attached to you in the week or so that you've been here and maybe we can even help you recover your memories!" A very enthusiastic said as she ran over to Kiru.

"So you guys are saying you want to be my friend?" A slightly hesitant Kiru asked.

"You bet your ass we do kid!" Andrew grinned as he walked up to Rain and Kiru and rapped his arms around both of them.

"Welcome to the family Kiru!" Rain added on happily.

Thanks you guys." Kiru said as small smile spread across his face because for the first time since he had awoken on the hill overlooking Shinedown he felt happy and because of his new friends Rain and Andrew he had no doubt he would find out who he really was.

Authors Notes: So that's the first chapter hope whoever read it liked it and I will be updating again soon so be looking for it.

Rau Le Creuset 88


	3. Roaring Lion

Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War

Let me just start out by saying I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. It would be pretty cool if I did but I don't so please don't sue me.

Three months later…

Our story actually begins in a peaceful town called Nibelheim on a warm summer night. All the towns and cities in all the worlds had been like this since the fall of Organization XIII three years ago. The world the town was situated in, Radiant Garden had very few problems except for basic crimes and the occasional small Heartless or Nobody outbreak and Nibelheim didn't even suffer from any of those problems either. The town of Nibelheim was just about as close to perfect as you could get. But this night all that would change, for the tragedy that would happen in Nibelheim this night would set the stage for a war three years in the making.

All the residents of Nibelheim slept peacefully in their homes as the darkly dressed silver haired man walked into their town. This man was no ordinary man however, he had a large black wing coming out of the right side of his back and two sprouting from his hips and wielded a six-meter long katana. Behind the man were several squads of Soldier and Armored Knight Heartless about forty of each type.

After walking into the towns square with his small army of Heartless the man turned and addressed them "Heartless kill anyone you find and then drag their bodies out here."

The Heartless immediately obeyed breaking through the doors and windows of the homes and after several moments several loud screams could be heard causing the silver haired man to smile. It was another few moments but soon Heartless began to return carrying mutilated, and in some cases decapitated bodies back to the square and started to pile them up.

The silver haired flexed his wing slightly as the bodies continued to pile up and even more screams began to blend with the other nighttime noises "What a beautiful symphony massacre is." He commented to himself.

"TAKE THIS YOU SON OF A BITCH!" The silver haired man heard someone roar at him from behind.

The man turned to see a man in his pajamas rushing him with a pitchfork and smiled as he drew his Masamune and with a quick thrust impaled the enraged man on it's blade "Actually my name is Sephiroth."

The man hung on the blade for a few moments before Sephiroth slid the blade from his chest, which caused the man to drop to his knees as blood poured from the wound in his chest. Sephiroth grinned at the site for a moment before he gave a quick flick of his wrist and decapitated the man. Sephiroth then threw the man's body into the pile and then kicked his head in after it.

It took about ten more minutes for the Heartless to finish their grisly task, which as Sephiroth observed they seemed to relish in. When the last body was thrown onto the pile Sephiroth went and inspected the corpses former homes. Each house seemed to posses it's own unique seen of carnage, which Sephiroth treated as though it was fine art.

Open the completion of his inspection Sephiroth walked back out into the square and announced stared out at the pile of bodies for a moment before pointing the Masamune at the mountain of gore and coldly said "Firaga." Which caused a monstrous fireball to shoot out of the Masamune's tip and ignite the pile of corpses.

Sephiroth watched with a flicker of amusement as the Heartless seemed to stare in fascination as the corpses crackled and burned with a hellish ambience brought on by the fire.

After a few more moments of watching the flames consume the bodies Sephiroth pulled out a cell phone and dialed in Maleficent's number and waited patiently until he heard her pick up.

"I executed them all. Is there anything else I need to do?" Sephiroth asked while he flexed his wings lazily.

"Actually there is. I need you to go and deliver those troops to you brought with you to Pete. He is waiting just outside Endenglory and if you don't mind could you please give him a hand with managing the battle." The witch replied in her usual benevolent tone.

"Sure no problem but you really don't expect us to take that city with just fifty Cannon Guns, ten Lance Soldiers, ten Morning Stars, five Surveillance Robots, and my forty Soldiers and Armored Knights do you?" The mako eyed warrior questioned.

"Of course not the main purpose of the attack is to just inflict as much damage on the capitol as we can or draw first blood you could say which will help us in the long run." Maleficent answered.

"If you say so." Sephiroth muttered closing his eyes for a moment _"Working with this band of idiots can be so difficult sometimes"_ He confided to himself _"If it was just me I would just do an all out attack on Endenglory right now before they have a chance to organize themselves."_

"Well get to it then Sephiroth the quicker we begin the assault the sooner we can begin our conquest." The witch ambitiously declared her voice rising slightly.

"Okay then." Sephiroth said quickly ending the call. He really did not like Maleficent she always seemed a wee little bit off balance to him.

After pocketing his cellphone he turned around and held up his right hand causing a black and purple portal to appear before him "On to Endenglory." He cried with little enthusiasm as he raised his Masamune, which was the signal to take off through the portal.

After the very last Heartless had gone through the portal Sephiroth began to walk to through the dark door smirking as he said quietly to himself "Oh well maybe while I'm there I can cause a little trouble for Strife."

And right as the very tip of Sephiroth's wing passed through the portal it disappeared leaving no traces that the large group had ever been there.

It was around noon when Cloud woke up sweating profoundly having awakened from a nightmare.

After a few moments he began to calm down as he realized he was in his own room, in his own bed, and was lying naked with his equally naked lover Tifa Lockhart. Just looking at Tifa's perfect body while she slept looking so calm and peaceful just seemed to calm Cloud down.

After several moments Cloud was finally calm once more until he looked over at the clock on his nightstand, which read twelve noon.

"Oh shit." He muttered quietly as he turned to Tifa and nudged her slightly "Tifa wake up we've slept in we've got to get up."

After several attempts on Cloud's part Tifa began to stir and sat up her hair all tangled and messed up from the previous nights activities. Cloud just sat there for a moment admiring her from her lovely burgundy eyes to her melon-sized breasts.

Tifa just sat there unmoving for a few moments in a zombie like state before asking sleepily "Yeah Cloud what is it?"

"Well Tifs" Cloud said as he got out of bed and walked over to his closet "the short version is we overslept and its twelve in the afternoon." Cloud answered as he pulled out his pants and shirt.

"Oh shit!" Tifa yelled jumping out from under the covers giving Cloud a good look at his lover's naked body.

Her long raven hair cascaded down her back and over her well-proportioned butt and her large perky breasts were flawless. And of course the crowning jewel of his angel's body her pubic hair was perfectly trimmed and her pussy itself was a breathtaking sight to behold.

"And just what are you staring at Mr. Strife?" Tifa asked cocking her head to the side waiting for Cloud's reply. This was not the first time he had been caught staring of course it probably shouldn't bother her considering she was sleeping with him but all the same sometimes it was just fun to hear how he answered.

"You of course, beautiful." Cloud responded with a smile as he slid on his boxers followed by his pants and boots.

"I'd better be the only person you stare at like that and call beautiful." Tifa shot back haughtily as she slipped on her black thong and bra.

"Trust me Tiff you are now let's hurry down and see if we can get something to eat." Cloud said to the raven-haired martial artist as he slipped on the rest of his clothes. The metal wolf's head on his chest reflecting light even in the darkness of the room.

"Hold your horses Cloud I'm almost done." Tifa agitatedly replied as she put on the dress part of her attire as she watched Cloud head over to the door of their room.

Cloud waited until Tifa was ready and the couple walked out the door. As soon as they left the sanctity of their room however they were met by a crude voice coming from the kitchen.

"Bout time you two got up! Of course that's what happens when ya spend must of the night havin sex!" The pilot yelled out from the table in the kitchen.

When Cloud and Tifa walked in they were already blood red from the embarrassment but Cid wasn't quite finished with the lovers yet.

"And damn! If you moanin and screamin wasn't bad enough" He took a moment to point at a flushed Tifa "All them dirty things you were sayin to her were disgusting Spikey " he moved the finger over to Cloud "It's not wonder Leon and Aerith left so early." He concluded.

"Wait Leon and Aerith have already gone out?" Tifa questioned surprised which turned to a look of stupidity when Cid pointed at the clock, which read twelve thirty pm.

"What about Yuffie?" Cloud asked slowly beginning to regain his natural color.

"Prancing around the city claiming how great of a ninja she is." Cid answered as he took a sip from the cup of coffee he had sitting on the table.

"So is there any breakfast left?" Tifa asked as she and Cloud sat down together at the table.

"Nope." Was Cid's only response as he took another sip of his black coffee.

"Well why not!" Cloud and Tifa asked the pilot sounding slightly angry as they did.

"Well you two little fuckers kept me up all night and since I was the only one hear and awake at the time I only made enough for me and don't you raise your voices ta me ya little brats!" Cid shot back almost spilling his coffee.

Cloud and Tifa looked slightly mortified for a moment before they both stood up and walked out of the kitchen heading towards the door.

"And where are you two goin?" Cid called out to the pair.

"Lunch." Was the only reply Cid got as he heard the front door of the house open and then shut followed by the roar of Cloud's motorbike Fenrir's engines as the couple drove away to go get something to eat. Leaving Cid to himself once more.

Sephiroth stepped out of the dark portal followed by his Heartless troops and looked out at the city of Endenglory from their vantage point on the large hills that overlooked the city.

"Bout time you got here Sephiroth. What took you so long anyway?" Pete rumbled as he turned around. However, a huge look of surprise appeared on his face as he looked at the Heartless that stood behind Sephiroth. Of course there were the expected forty Soldiers and forty Armored Knights but there were also fifty Cannon Guns, and another Heartless type Pete didn't recognize.

The new Heartless resembled Neo Shadows but instead of antennas sported a pair of horns and wore metallic colored armor on their shoulders, forearms, chest, thighs, and feet. The Heartless also wore a metallic colored helmet on it's head which had a wicked looking blade like horn coming out of the top. From the right side of the Heartless back a single large black wing protruded with a row of orange feathers on the bottom of the wing and in it's right hand the Heartless sported a long katana similar to the Masamune. But the weird thing was the Heartless didn't sport the traditional Heartless symbol. Sephiroth was flanked by two of the new Heartless, which seemed to make him look even more fearsome to Pete than he already was.

"Sorry I'm late Pete but I had to stop to pick up some reserves." Sephiroth replied sounding apologetic but cold at the same time as he gestured to the Heartless behind him.

"But, but Maleficent already gave us the troops why would we need more." Pete managed to stutter out.

A malevolent look suddenly came over Sephiroth and his eyes sharpened as he walked over to Pete.

"Pete I know a coward like you doesn't like to question people that are stronger than them but I think you something." Sephiroth said in a low cold voice that much to his enjoyment made Pete gulp before he continued, "Maleficent is an incompetent tactician. We couldn't even carry out what she thought was a strategically brilliant with the amount of Heartless she gave us so I stopped off to get some extra Heartless to give us a little bit more firepower. Am I clear Pete or do I need to elaborate further?" Sephiroth finished.

"Well that makes sense I guess but ah…what are those?" Pete asked as he nervously pointed at the two new Heartless "I have never seen that type of Heartless before."

"The specific name for them is Abbadon and they are a Heartless only I am able to create so it isn't surprising that you have never seen them before Pete. However, they are infinitely more powerful than standard or even uncommon Heartless. It takes a truly skilled opponent to defeat one of my Abbadons." Sephiroth answered turning his gaze away from Pete and towards Endenglory as he did so. He looked over the city in a far off way his mako eyes taking in every inch of the metropolis.

After several long moments Pete began to get very annoyed and slightly uncomfortable with the silence that was only broken by the movements of some of the Heartless. Eventually the silence became too much and Pete finally spoke up and spoke to Sephiroth.

"Uh Sephiroth… I don't mean to be pushy but do you think we could get this show on the road. I mean we aren't getting any younger here and I'm getting kinda bored ta tell you the truth." Pete said trying to mask the nervousness of talking to Sephiroth in his voice with confidence, which in itself had a small degree of success.

"Of course. Lets proceed" Sephiroth suddenly breaking out of his trance "Cannon Guns line up in rows of ten and begin bombardment as soon as you are all in place, the rest of you come with me and we will attack the city directly and Pete I want you to stay here and command the Cannon Guns." Sephiroth ordered quickly.

Before waiting to see if anyone obeyed his orders or not which he knew at least the Abbadons would he took off into the air and flew towards Endenglory at top speed.

Leon was walking down Midgar St. with Aerith and he had to admit he felt pretty good. The two of them had been in town since seven this morning doing various things. They had stopped to get breakfast and since then had walked around looking at various shops and stores. Of course it wasn't those things in particular that Leon enjoyed he enjoyed just being with Aerith.

"_Of course they probably wouldn't even be out here if it weren't for this morning."_ Leon reflected to himself.

Cloud and Tifa had woken up him up in the middle of the night for the third time this week. So he decided to get up and make himself a small snack. It was as he was passing Aerith's room he heard her sobbing uncontrollably.

"_Aerith are you okay?" Leon asked compassionately but with a distinct firmness in his voice as he knocked on her door._

_There was no reply for a moment but Leon could distinctly hear the sound of Aerith blowing her nose and then the sound of her slippers moving against the wooden floor of the room as she made her way to the door._

_The door opened to reveal Aerith wearing a pink tube top, some white sleeping pants with hearts on them, and a pair of little pink bedroom shoes. Her hair was messy and her eyes were also red and puffy from all the crying she had obviously done._

"_Hey Leon why are you up so late?" Aerith asked with a smile. However, whether she was actually curious about why he was up of if she was just trying to change the subject Leon did not know._

"_Cloud and Tifa…again" Leon said releasing an exasperated sigh as he did "but that's not the point are you okay?"_

"_Yeah I'm fine but what would make you think anything wrong?" Aerith asked trying not to sound like she could break down in tears again at any moment._

"_Please don't lie to me Aerith. You know you don't have to." Leon said as he caringly placed a hand on her shoulder._

_Aerith stood there for a moment her eyes watering slightly before she finally broke down and cried into Leon's chest "I miss him so much Leon it just doesn't feel right being here without him."_

_Leon instantly knew who she was talking about. She was still mourning for Zack who had been slain by Sephiroth before the Heartless had consumed the original Radiant Garden. Zack had been friends with everyone but was Cloud's best friend and Aerith's boyfriend. They both had taken it pretty hard when Zack was killed._

"_Its okay Aerith" Leon gently said as he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting manner "But Zack wouldn't want you to go on like this being miserable for the rest of your life would he?"_

_It was a minute or so before Aerith lifted her head from the warmth of Leon's chest her face stained with tears and looked at him a small smile spreading across her face "Your right Leon…thank you." She said as she returned his hug before pulling out of his arms._

_It was as Aerith was preparing to walk back into her room that Leon who had been working up the courage to ask her something for weeks finally decided now was as good a time as any and finally spoke up._

"_Um…Aerith?" He said hesitantly to the brown haired woman._

"_Yes Leon." Aerith replied as she quickly turned around so as to face the Gunblade wielder. Who at that moment had a very nervous look on his face. A look she thought Leon wasn't even able to show._

"_I was just wondering if…I mean…what I meant to say is…I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go do something with me in the city today." Leon finally managed to stutter out after several very embarrassing pauses. This caused Leon to even go so far as to slightly blush._

_Aerith didn't say anything for a moment appearing as if she was deep in thought before finally softly replying "Sure Leon I'd love to" There was a slight silence for a moment before Aerith asked "So what time do you want to go?"_

_Leon looked as if he was about to say something but then suddenly stopped as he thought to himself "Oh shit! I never thought about when you were going to leave if she said yes. Just great now I'm going to look like an even bigger idiot."_

"_Earth to Leon anybody there." Aerith in a joking manner as she waved her hand in front of Leon's face._

"_Oh yeah sorry about that but what time is it now?" Leon asked as he quickly came out of his trance._

_Aerith turned and looked into her room. Leon knew she had a wall clock in there, which always kept excellent time. It was given to her as a gift to Merlin so it always corrected itself whenever the time needed to change. _

_After several seconds Aerith turned back around and said that it was three in the morning._

"_Okay so how about we head back to sleep get up at seven and then go get some lunch and make a day of it." Leon suggested the calm expression slowly beginning to resurface in his facial features._

"_That sounds like a good idea Leon. So I guess I'll see you in a few hours then." She said as she turned and headed back into her room._

"_Alright then." Leon said his regular calm expression finally back in place as Aerith closed her bedroom door._

_As soon as the door closed Leon took off back to his room. When Leon finally reached his room he quickly but quietly shut the door and then collapsed on his bed._

_He laid there for a few moments in solitude the lamp on his nightstand still burning brightly. The only sound that could be heard in the room was Leon's heart pounding as he thought about the conversation he had just had with Aerith._

_It was about five more minutes before Leon finally cut the lamp off but as soon as he had laid back down he let a relieved prayer of thanks to whatever god had helped him get through that before finally falling asleep._

It was just as he finished his reflection of the morning's events they walked into the marketplace. Leon watched for a moment as Aerith ran over to a small jewelry stand and began to look around.

"_Of course she probably thinks I was doing it just to be nice. She thinks of me as nothing more than a friend and that's the way it always will be." _Leon mentally sighed.

It was at that moment Leon finally heard Aerith calling out to him. He looked over and began to walk over to the jewelry stand she was at.

As he approached Leon could see several very interesting looking rings, necklaces, earrings, anklets and the like.

When Leon got within speaking distance Aerith pointed at something on the stand and said in a gleeful voice "Hey Leon look at this!"

Leon looked down at the stand and saw what she was pointing at. It was a pendant that was shaped like three intertwined red, yellow, and white flowers.

"Do you like it Aerith?" Leon asked as he turned his gaze from the marvelously crafted pendant to the woman he thought was the most beautiful in all the worlds. His eyes never leaving hers as he waited for a reply.

"Yes Leon it's gorgeous." Aerith almost squealed as she looked at Leon pleadingly.

Leon appeared to think about it for a moment before he replied with a smile "Then it's yours."

"Oh thank you Leon!" Aerith said as she excitedly jumped up and embraced him, which caused Leon to blush slightly. When she finally did pull away she said with a smile that Leon thought was dazzling "I'm gonna go look around for a second I'll be back in a minute."

"All right I'll meet up with you in a minute." Leon called to Aerith as he turned to pay the man that was running the stand "How much buddy?"

"Two thousand five hundred munny please." The man replied.

Leon pulled out the munny and handed it to the man who gave him the pendant. Leon took the pendant and as he was about to walk away he heard the man call out to him.

"Hey buddy that's a nice looking girl ya bought that for hand on to her!"

In response Leon yelled back "She'd have to be mine before I could hang onto her." Before he turned and walked off to find Aerith.

Leon walked around the market for several minutes looking for Aerith before he finally found her. She was looking at a something called a paopu fruit at a nearby fruit stand.

"Hey Aerith!" He yelled to get her attention.

She turned around hearing her name called and walked up to Leon when she saw him in the small crowd of people going through the market. When she did walk up to him before she could say a word Leon had already slipped the pendant around her neck.

Leon stepped back and looked at her before finally saying "God you look so beautiful Aerith."

The compliment kind of caught Aerith off guard because Leon never really gave compliments like that. So when he said it Aerith was really touched.

"Oh Leon" Aerith said the tears welling in her eyes as she buried her head in Leon's chest for a moment before she looked back up at him tears streaming down and said "Thank you. You've been so nice to me today I just don't know what to say."

Before Leon was able to say anything in response someone else cut him off.

"So Gainsborough your whoring yourself off to Leonhart now? Of course I always kind of figured you were a whore. You'd probably even fuck Strife if Lockhart wasn't already." Sephiroth said maliciously as he hovered above the pair.

"Sephiroth you bastard!" Leon shouted as he pulled his Gunblade off his back pointed it at Sephiroth and used Firaga while shouting angrily "Burn in Hell!"

Sephiroth merely drew his Masamune and deflected the fireball as if it was nothing "You'll have to do better than that if you want to protect your whore Squall." Sephiroth chuckled slightly as he saw how mad the comment had made Leon.

However, it was at that moment Sephiroth's Heartless came surging through the market place destroying property and turning people into Heartless as they went.

"Aerith get behind me." Leon growled sounding like a lion as he did.

"Heartless destroy them." Leon could hear Sephiroth say from above them as two Morning Stars, five Lance Soldiers, five Soldiers, and a large number of Shadows and Neo Shadows that the Heartless had made out of some of the people in the market. However some of the weaker Shadows were being picked off by the security system but that still didn't do a lot of good.

"Leon…" Leon heard faintly whisper behind him fear evident in her voice.

"Just stay behind me Aerith." Leon firmly commanded as he held his Gunblade forward and roared out the phrase "Blasting Zone!"

Almost instantaneously the blade of Leon's Gunblade was encased in an even larger blade that appeared to be made of pure energy.

"Alright you bastards take this!" Leon shouted as he swung the now massive sword, which sliced through three fourths of the oncoming Heartless, and some of the abandoned market stands with almost frightening ease.

Leon then jumped up towards Sephiroth forgetting about Aerith for a moment his only desire was to turn the black winged man into mincemeat for what he had said to Aerith. However, Sephiroth had an ace in the hole and right when Leon raised his strengthened weapon to strike he was tackled into a nearby stand by a black and metallic colored blur.

"Leon!" A very concerned Aerith cried as Leon began to rise up from the wreckage he had made of the stand.

" I'm fine Aerith but what kind of Heartless is that?" He growled as he brought his now no longer energy encased Gunblade into a fighting position and stared critically at the Abbadon that had rammed him.

"It's called an Abbadon Leonhart a Heartless of my own design and the instrument of your death and Gainsboroughs as well." Sephiroth sneered at Leon before he turned his attention to the Abbadon "Kill Leonhart but do it slowly I want him to watch me kill his little bitch." He commanded the Heartless.

The Heartless zoomed forward at speeds that surprised Leon and locked blades with him. Sparks flew from the Gunblade and Masamune replica as the two blades clashed over and over. The two combatants seemed to be well matched as each one countered and returned the others attacks perfectly.

"Now Ms. Gainsborough Its time I sent you to meet with your beloved Zack." Sephiroth said with a cold smirk as he advanced on Aerith preparing to lash out at her with his Masamune.

"Leon!" Aerith shrieked in fear.

"Aerith hang on!" Leon yelled back but as he took a step towards Aerith his path was blocked by another of Sephiroth's Abbadons "Get out of my way you bastards!" Leon roared as he attempted to slash through the two powerful foes but was thwarted by their foes.

"Sorry Squall but you lose." Sephiroth said with a malevolent smile as he raised the Masamune above Aerith her terrified expression reflecting in the well-polished blade as she resigned herself to death.

"Blade Beam!" A voice thundered out from behind the group as a large wave of blue energy flew towards Sephiroth and knocked him fifty feet backwards into a stand upon squarely connecting with his chest.

Both Leon and Aerith turned instantly recognizing the attack, as one of Cloud's and sure enough riding up on Fenrir at an insane speed was Cloud and Tifa. Cloud's completed First Tsurugi held out firmly in his right hand.

"Hey guys are you alright?" Tifa called out from her perch on the back of Fenrir.

"We are now thank you both!" Aerith yelled as Cloud stopped the bike dead in it's tracks beside her and leapt off to land beside Leon facing the two Abbadons.

"Leon the entire city is under attack. As near as Tifa and me can tell were being bombarded by a large force outside the city." Cloud reported as he looked over the two Abbadons trying to size them up.

"Are there anymore Heartless in the city?" Leon asked grip tightening on the hilt of his Gunblade as though he could lunge at the two Abbadons at any moment.

"Cid, Yuffie, Tifa, and me defeated five Morning Stars, five Surveillance Robots, and a bunch of Soldiers, and Armored Knights before Cid told us to go look for you." Cloud answered quickly as he saw something moving in the wreckage of the stand Sephiroth had flown into.

"Cloud you go take care of Sephiroth and Leon and me can take care of those two Heartless!" Tifa told her lover from where she and Aerith were standing.

"That okay with you Leon?" Cloud asked as he turned his gaze over to the warrior who wore the emblem of the lion Griever.

"Fine just as long as you get the sunnova bitch." Leon growled as he prepared to strike the Abbadon that was facing him.

Cloud apparently found that a sufficient enough reply as his demon wing sprouted from his back and he flew towards where Sephiroth had fallen.

One of the Abbadons then acted as though it was about to give chase but was cut off as Tifa slammed her powerful fist into the Heartless face and sent it flying into a nearby stand.

"Aerith." Leon called to the brown haired girl who had been watching Tifa.

"Yeah Leon. What is it?" She asked.

"Just stand back and Cloud, Tifa, and me will protect you." Leon said giving one of his rare smiles, which seemed to be coming more and more frequently lately as he did.

"You got it Leon." Aerith called back a heart melting smile on her face which only seemed to make Leon look stronger as she watched him turn and face his Abbadon.

"Alright you bastard its time I finished this." Leon's thundered his voice filled with confidence as he did as he rushed forward and locked blades with the Heartless again.

Cloud flew as fast as he could to the stand where Sephiroth had fallen. Just as Cloud arrived at the wreckage Sephiroth burst forth and the two locked blades.

"Good to see you…Cloud." Sephiroth said with a dark smile which caused Cloud's teeth to clench and eyes to turn into slits.

"Wish I could say the same **monster**." Cloud growled back in response emphasis on the word monster when he said it.

The two then jumped from each other, which put a good ten feet of distance between the warriors. The two combatants eyes locked for a moment like they had on countless other worlds in the pairs deadly dance that had taken them across the cosmos.

It was Sephiroth that finally broke the silence between the two "That was one of Zack's attacks Cloud were you hoping it would be the one that put me down? Oh well it was still as weak as it was when he used it so I'm not that surprised it didn't do as much damage with you as it did with him." Sephiroth snidely remarked as he brought his Masamune to bear.

"You have no right to call Zack weak demon!" Cloud replied anger evident in his voice "I'll finish you for Zack and Aerith!"

And with that Cloud charged Sephiroth attempting to cleave him in half with his First Tsurugi. Sephiroth however, dodged to the causing Cloud to slide past him. Sephiroth then saw his chance to take his enemy out and tried to thrust his sword through Cloud's side.

Cloud fortunately saw the attack coming and pulled one of the six swords that made up the First Tsurugi out of the back of the sword's massive blade and deflected the attack.

"Not bad Cloud you certainly have gotten better I will admit that but your still not good enough to beat me!" Sephiroth declared as he glided at top speed towards Cloud.

Cloud rushed to meet him a loud clanging noise being made when the main portion of Cloud's First Tsurugi collided with Sephiroth's Masamune. Sephiroth however maneuvered his Masamune so that it slid down the blade of Cloud's weapon, which allowed him to slice, open Cloud's side causing a small stream of blood to spray on part of the Masamune's blade. Cloud however took the sword he carried in his other hand and slashed Sephiroth's chest.

After each warrior had sustained a wound from the other the two separated. Both panting slightly as small stream of blood dripped from each of them.

"You know Gainsborough is about to die right Strife?" Sephiroth suddenly said after a few moments.

"What are you talking about Sephiroth?" Cloud snapped as he rose to his feet while simultaneously combining his swords to complete the First Tsurugi.

Sephiroth pointed at Aerith with his Masamune, which caused Cloud to turn around and look at the brown haired girl. His eyes widened in shock as he saw three Morning Stars, twenty Soldiers, ten Armored Knights, five Lance Soldiers, and a large number of Shadows and Neo Shadows, advancing on the Aerith who was completely unaware of their presence.

Sephiroth took this moment to open a dark portal and began to sink into it's enveloping folds "Try and save her Cloud but even if you don't know this! Armageddon is coming and who knows maybe when it arrives you and I will be able to continue our dance of death as the sky turns red and the world is swallowed by darkness!" Sephiroth said with a grim smile as he was completely sucked into the dark portal and disappeared along with the portal itself.

"Damn that bastard!" Cloud thought as he turned away from where Sephiroth had stood and cried out "Aerith look out!"

Aerith turned around just in time to see the Heartless that were about to claim her heart and the only thing she could think to scream as she resigned herself to death was "LEON!"

Leon turned away from his opponent to see the woman he secretly loved about to be destroyed by the Heartless that were surrounding her. Time seemed to stop for Leon his entire body felt like it was disconnected from his mind. He didn't even feel it when the Abbadon he was fighting cut his left arm with it's Masamune.

Suddenly Leon felt something snap within him. He felt an immeasurable amount of strength coming from his heart a strength that made him feel more powerful than he had ever felt before. This was the strength that he could use to save and protect Aerith.

Leon's azure blue eyes suddenly went clear and a red aura began to emanate from his Gunblade. Everyone stopped and look on in awe at the crimson red light that had enveloped Leon's Gunblade. Even the Heartless stopped and stared at the captivating light.

Leon then gripped his Gunblade with his right hand and roared out the name he had given to this new strength of his "ROARING LION!"

Leon swung the Gunblade with all his might the crimson aura surrounding it growing larger and developing sharp edges. The Abbadon that had been fighting Leon was incinerated as the aura burned through it on it's way to the larger group of Heartless that were threatening Aerith.

As the searing red energy approached the Heartless though it began to twist and change shape until it had taken the form of a pouncing lion who's mane was flowing in the wind as it extended it's claws and bared it's fangs. The Heartless in other words didn't have a prayer.

The now lion shaped aura collided with the group of Heartless and in a matter of seconds incinerated them. The only trace of them ever being there were the Hearts that had been in there bodies rising into the air.

The lion simply stood there for a moment in front of Aerith as though it was still protecting her from some unseen foe the immense heat it's body gave off beginning to melt the concrete it stood on. But finally the lions body dematerialized the only trace of it ever being there being the huge melted portion of the concrete it had stood on.

As for Leon himself he collapsed on the ground his Gunblade slipping from his hand as everything began to go black. The last things he saw or heard being the sight of Cloud and Tifa destroying the last Abbadon and Aerith running towards him crying out his name with tears streaming down her face.

When Leon did begin to regain consciousness his vision was kind of hazy but he could make out the sound of someone saying something to him. It started out jumbled at first but he quickly interpreted what the speaker was saying.

"Wakey, wakey Squall I know you can here me." The speaker almost squealed.

"_There's only one person that could be."_ Squall mentally sighed to himself as he said weakly "That's Leon, Yuffie."

Leon's vision was by this time back to normal and he could see Yuffie bouncing about and down screaming Squall's awake but he could also see Cid, Tifa, Cloud, and the person he wanted to see most of all standing around his bed.

Leon smiled for a moment about the fact that all of his friends were watching over him before he asked, "How long was I out?"

"Bout five hours." Cid replied simply as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket to smoke.

"We where worried about you Leon…we thought a couple of times that you might not wake up but were glad that you are now" Aerith said melodically as she looked down at Leon "And thank you for saving me." She added on which caused Leon to blush.

"All right enough flirting you two, we need to figure out what were going to do about Sephiroth." Tifa said which caused Aerith to blush and Leon to blush even harder than he was to begin with.

"Tifa's right we need to decide what actions we're going to take. I mean the RGDC is good but they're not qualified to take on somebody like Sephiroth." Cloud pointed out speaking for the first time since Leon had woken up.

"Well we should start by calling WARRIOR." Leon said as he sat up in his bed.

"And by that you mean you want us to call Sora and company right?" Tifa asked as she turned her gaze toward Leon.

"Well when you put it that way yes. Now where is my phone?" Leon replied as he looked around for his phone.

"I'll call Leon don't trouble yourself." Cloud told the Gunblade wielder as he pulled out his phone, dialed in a number, and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello." Someone said over the phone.

"We have a situation Endenglory was attacked and Sephiroth masterminded the assault." Cloud reported ignoring introductions and getting straight to the point.

"I see…Sora and I will be there as soon as we can Donald and Goofy are on leave." The person on the other end said upon hearing how grave the situation was.

"All right then we will be expecting you." Cloud said as he hung up the phone.

Meanwhile at his room in the Abbey a 19-year-old boy with platinum blonde hair closed his cell phone and proceeded to walk out the door to find his friend and partner.

If Sephiroth was on the lose that meant there could be an actual need for the warriors of the Keyblade to combat true darkness once again.

Authors Notes: Sorry about the long time it took to update but this chapter was way longer than I thought it was going to be and I had Band practice to go to for most of the past couple of weeks so I hope my readers want be to mad at me. Any way I'll try and get the next chapter up a lot faster.

Rau Le Creuset 88


	4. Return From the Void

Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War

Let me just start out by saying I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. It would be pretty cool if I did but I don't so please don't sue me and now on with the story!

I only own Kiru, Rain, and Andrew.

I don't own the song Burning Bright by Shinedown

The platinum haired teen walked through the cavernous halls of the Abbey searching for his best friend Sora. The teen wore the standard WARRIOR uniform and had long platinum blonde hair that spilled over his shoulders and was very tall.

He was still looking five minutes later when he ran into a technician in the hall and decided to ask him if they had seen Sora.

"Yeah he's in the training room." The technician casually replied.

"_Ah probably practicing with that new key chain he got on the last mission."_ The longhaired man deduced as he thanked the technician and proceeded down to the training room.

As he thought he briskly walked down to the training room to retrieve his friend and partner the man decided to think about their last mission. He and Sora had gone to a world called Orb and helped defeat a monstrous Heartless called GENESIS. After the Heartless had been eliminated one of the residents of the world that had helped them destroy the Heartless a man named Kira had given Kira a keychain that bore the effigy of a mechanical looking green bird with a yellow chest.

"This is probably the first time is even put the chain on the Keyblade to even see what it looks like when it's equipped with it." He sighed to himself.

After a few more minutes of walking through the massive space fortress he finally arrived at the training room. He opened the door to see a teen only a year younger than himself wielding a strange sword that resembled a key cutting down and blasting targets all over the room some moving some stationary. They boy had brown hair and blue eyes and was dressed in black. The clothes he was wearing were enchanted and from what he had been told by Donald and Goofy they were given to him by three fairies and Sora had been wearing them for three years so the man imagined there must be something magical about them.

The brown haired boy then noticed someone else was in the room with him and greeted the platinum blonde man "Hey Riku what's up?" He asked with one of his famous grins.

"Well Sora we have a new mission but before I go into detail on it let me look at your Keyblade." Riku replied as he took the weapon from his friend and examined it.

The handle was a solid black metal that led up to a square blue hilt, which had a gray cable coming from its right and left sides that went down until they connected to the base of the handle. The blade resembled a zweihander with one half of the blade being an alabaster white and the other side being an opaque black. The key part of the weapon appeared to a mechanical looking wing made up of four segments that were black on top and blue on the bottom and of course dangling from the hilt on it's chain was the mechanical looking green and yellow bird.

"Well what do you think?" Sora inquired after a few moments of watching Riku look over his weapon.

"It is a little strange looking but is it pretty strong?" Riku asked back as he returned the Keyblade to Sora.

"Well to tell you the truth Riku I don't think my Keyblades ever felt stronger." Sora replied as his gaze wandered over the Keyblade "I mean it feels like an extension of my body when I use it." Sora described.

"What's the Keyblade going to called?" Riku asked curiously as he looked at his friend.

Sora thought for a moment before a name popped into his head "How about Freedom?"

"Any particular reason you want to call it that?" Riku asked as he thought about how strange the name sounded.

"I don't know it just seems to fit it you know." Sora replied sheepishly.

"Okay then but anyway back to the mission. Endenglory was attacked by Sephiroth and Cloud wants us to come out there and lend a hand." Riku reported to his friend.

"Is everyone okay?" Sora asked suddenly becoming concerned.

"Cloud didn't say but they're all probably all right." Riku said which caused Sora to breath a sigh of relief.

"So when are we heading to Endenglory?" Sora asked while he stretched.

"Right now, if your ready that is." Riku smirked as he turned around and headed for the door and walked out into the hallway.

"You bet your ass I am Riku." Sora yelled at his friend as he pursued him out into the hallway.

As the two friends walked down the hallways of the Abbey to one of the bases many hangers where their ship was waiting they ran into Dominion class WARRIOR Seifer Almasy.

Seifer looked exactly the same as he did three years ago except he was taller and now his white sleeveless trench coat was replaced by a sleeveless blue one and strapped to his back was his black Hyperion model Gunblade.

"Hey Seifer where ya headed?" Sora asked the orange haired teen.

"I don't even know yet! They just paged me in my room and told me something about a large Nobody outbreak and said to report down to the hanger immediately." Seifer said exasperatedly "But by the way where are you guys headed?"

"Endenglory was attacked most likely by Heartless and so of course the two of us were called in for the job." Riku answered with a small cocky grin on his face.

"Oh yeah speaking of Endenglory remind us to take you there sometime to meet that guy Leon Riku and me have been telling you about I'm sure you'd be the only fellow Gunblade wielder he's ever met." Sora added on.

"I'd be glad to." Seifer said as he began to walk away "Just remember I'll hold you two to it." He proclaimed.

"You bet!" Sora shot back as Seifer walked around a corner and disappeared.

Sora stood there for a moment before he turned back around and he and Riku continued onwards to the hanger.

It took about ten more minutes for the pair to reach the hanger where their ship was parked. The ship resembled the old Highwind ship Sora, Donald, and Goofy had originally used but had three missile launchers tucked under each wing, had two pivoting gatling guns on top of each wing, and in the prow of each ship were two high power plasma cannons. Each ship also possesses several vernier thrusters all over the ships back, which made it faster and more maneuverable than it's predecessors and a standard warp drive engine.

Sora and Riku's ship the _Roxas_, which was named after Sora's Nobody, was alabaster white with areas of black.

The two Keyblade wielders quickly boarded the ship and entered it's cockpit, which

unlike it's predecessors cockpits was quite spacious and even came with drink holders. They both strapped into their seats and began to converse while they waited for the systems on the _Roxas_ to finish booting up.

"So how long do you think it will take us to reach Endenglory?" Sora asked as he put his hands behind his head and reclined lazily in his seat.

Riku sat up and checked the ships navigations systems looking them over for a few minutes while Sora waited for his answer.

"According to the ship's computers if we take warp routes 124 and 434 we should wind up their in about an hour and thirty minutes." Riku replied as he fell back into his chair and looked over at Sora.

"And is that the fastest way?" Sora whined as he sat up slightly in his seat.

"Yeah it is but at least it won't take as long as it did to get to Orb I mean God that place was way out there." Riku answered as he also sat up and began to go over the pre flight checklist, which was a mandatory requirement for all pilots to do before they were allowed to take off.

"Everything in order there Sparky or are we going to explode?" Sora joked which caused Riku to frown slightly as he shook off the comment with disdain.

After a few moments of silence Riku finally said that they were cleared for take off and the ship began to rise slightly and edge toward the hanger exit slowly at first but gradually picking up speed until finally it flew from the hanger of the Abbey and out into the vastness of Gummi Space.

Riku flew through normal space for about five minutes before he it the ignition switch for warp drive and caused the ship to fly through a bright portal into a seemingly endless tunnel of bright light.

After a few moments of staring out into the endless void of Warp Space Riku finally decided to put Roxas on autopilot and get a little bit of shut eye before they arrived at Endenglory. Riku reached out to the control panel and hit the button for autopilot and typed in the routes the ship was supposed to take while in autopilot while also taking the precaution of activating the ship's shields.

"You never know someone might actually try and attack us." Riku said as he finished typing the commands into the computer and turned to find his friend asleep "Guess he beat me the punch." Riku chuckled as he settled into his seat activated the light filters so the light of Warp Space wouldn't be to bright and like Sora soon found himself drifting off to sleep.

Darkness had completely consumed The World That Never Was. Buildings and streets were covered in Maleficent's thorns some of which had even managed to tunnel into the streets and below ground. Heartless now completely ran amuck in the once Nobody dominated world.

Wyvern Heartless soared through the skies, Defenders, Soldiers, Armored Knights, Shadows, Neo Shadows, Lance Soldiers and countless other types of Heartless roamed the streets and the castle that sat in the very center of the world.

The once bright alabaster castle which had once belong to the now defunct Organization XIII was now dull and faded and covered in Maleficent's thorns and vines much like the rest of the world. The castle had been renamed by it's new owners Castle Nightshade and the castle stood as a sanctuary for all beings of darkness everywhere. The place was truly a fearsome sight to behold and at the very top of the intimidating structure a meeting was being held.

Participating in the meeting were Maleficent the dark fairy, Hades the Lord of the Underworld, and a dark colored Lion named Scar who had been deceased until Hades had brought him back and endowed him with some new abilities.

Scar was now slate gray in color except for his mane, which appeared to be made of black fire. Scar's paws and the tip of his tail were also surrounded by the same black fire, which instead of feeling hot felt bone chillingly cold.

It was Maleficent that decided to start the meeting off.

"Sephiroth and Pete have finished the assault on Endenglory and are now retreating away from the city. The city received considerable damage and a respectable number of casualties just like we'd hoped the would and to top it off the Keyblade master is walking right into our trap!" Maleficent proudly proclaimed to the other two dark beings.

"That's great news about Endenglory and everything but the twerpy Keyblade kid is actually walking into the trap we set for him?" Hades asked sounding mildly surprised at what Maleficent had just said.

"Indeed Hades which means you will have to get into position with _Cerberus _after our meeting and prepare to spring the trap." Maleficent said in her malevolent voice to the God of Death.

"What about Sephiroth and Pete how many Heartless did they have left after the assault?" Scar questioned as he swung his tail from side to side.

"All of Pete's Cannon Guns plus the Cannon Guns that Sephiroth brought along." Maleficent said to the dark lion.

"Oh Maleficent, babe by the way would ya mind going over our plan to get the twerp with the Keyblade one more time just to refresh my memory?" Hades asked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

You will take your ship Cerberus under cloak and wait for the Keyblade masters ship to arrive, blast it out of orbit, and then return here still under cloak." Maleficent answered as she shrugged off Hades arm "And Scar as soon as Sephiroth and Pete return and we have regrouped you will get to lead a ground assault with your new Heartless."

"May I ask where?" Scar asked as he walked towards Maleifcent.

"You will see in due time" Was all Maleficent said in response as she turned towards Hades and said "and Hades go ahead and proceed down to the hanger we really don't have anything else to discuss." Maleficent said to the Death God.

"Alright, alright I'm going just chill." Hades said as he disappeared in a mist of swirling black smoke.

As for Scar he quickly and quietly stalked off down the stairs of the Alter of Naught to go lounge in his room or as he called it his den within the castle. Which of course left Maleficent to herself on the top of the castle.

"Once I reclaim Radiant Garden, Disney Castle will fall and after them all other worlds will as well and once that happens I can assume my role as Queen of the Universe." Mused Maleficent as she stared up into the starless sky.

"Is that what you think?" Maleficent heard a cold voice ask her from behind.

The dark fairy turned to see a figure dressed in a black coat similar to the ones that used to be worn by the members of Organization XIII.

"Who are you?" Maleficent asked defensively as she turned and faced the figure.

"That is none of your concern I just came to warn you that your plans for universal conquest are being overshadowed by another's plans for Armageddon." The figure said almost mockingly.

"And whose plans are those?" Maleficent inquired.

"It is not my place to say I only came to warn you that if you don't watch yourself death is the only fate that awaits you." The man in the black coat said as he turned and prepared to walk away.

Maleficent who was stunned for a moment by the man's revelations quickly became angry with him for not answering any of her questions. So she brought up her staff and fired a stream of dark hate filled magic at the retreating figure.

The man in the black coat took notice of the attack and turned to face the attack while a large quadruple bladed battle-axe that had a spear point coming out of the top of the shaft. The black clad figure swung the weapon at the dark magic and knocked the hex back at Maleficent.

The magic hit Maleficent squarely in the chest and caused her to fly back into a nearby pillar which bore the Heartless crest on top.

"Temper, temper Maleficent." The man said as he waved a finger tauntingly at the collapsed fairy.

"Damn you." Maleficent muttered weakly.

"Well don't expect anymore free advice from us if this is how you're going to act." The man said as his battle-axe disappeared.

The figure in the black coat then opened a dark portal and which he stepped through and disappeared.

As for Maleficent she slowly rose up off the ground using her staff for support.

She then began to slowly walk down the stairs of the Alter of Naught all the while muttering to herself "I don't know who that man was but someday he will pay for what he has done to me."

Meanwhile about an hour and twenty-five minutes after the meeting had taken place in Castle Nightshade Sora and Riku had finally arrived at Radiant Garden. They were floating just outside the Radian Garden's gravity well and both the pilots were still asleep.

Inside the _Roxas_ a preset alarm began to go off which almost instantaneously woke the two Keyblade masters up.

Upon awakening Riku jumped up and immediately began to prep the ship for atmospheric reentry while Sora stretched and yawned.

After a few moments of staring at his computer terminal Riku finally turned to Sora and said "The ship is all set for atmospheric reentry all we need to do is head into Radiant Garden's gravity well and we can begin."

"Cool." Was all Sora said in response as he let out a long yawn as he sat up and along with Riku buckled up as the ship slipped into Radiant Garden's gravity well and began to enter the atmosphere.

Nearby Hades was watching from his personal Gummi Ship _Cerberus_ as the _Roxas_ prepared to enter Radiant Garden's atmosphere.

The _Cerberus_ itself looked like a frozen flame. The prow and bridge of the ship being colored black while the rear of the ship was an azure blue. The ship itself had a unique gummi block makeup that allowed it to clock itself from radar and the naked eye. As for armaments it possessed two high-energy plasma cannons in the prow of the ship and many laser cannons spread out over the hull of the ship.

Inside the ships bridge Hades sat in the Captains seat while his minions Pain and Panic oversaw the rest of the ship.

Hades was waiting for the _Roxas_ to go just beyond the point of no return and then he would fire his plasma cannons at the ships engines and take them out which would cause the ship to rip itself apart during reentry due to the damage that were inflicted on the ships superstructure by the plasma cannons. In other words he would cripple the ship so that it would burn up as it came through the atmosphere. Minutes ticked by as the crew of the _Cerberus _watched the other ship hover just outside of the gravity well.

However, just as Hades began to drum his fingers on the armrest of his chair in annoyance the _Roxas_ began to move and entered the gravity well.

"At last!" Hades cried jumping up "Pain you bring the ship into firing range and Panic you bring the plasma cannons online and fire on my mark once we're within range." Hades ordered.

"Yes sir." Both the imps replied in unison as they began to do the tasks they're boss had ordered them to do.

It took a minute or two but finally the Cerberus engines stirred to life and the powerful ship flew closer towards the edge of the gravity well until at last they were close enough to target the Roxas with the plasma cannons.

"We've got a lock on the ship sir." Panic reported as he saw the sights of the plasma cannons lock onto the _Roxas_.

Hades stood there silently for a moment before he finally yelled out to the tiny blue imp "Fire the plasma cannons!"

"Yes sir." Panic replied as he pressed the firing mechanism for the plasma cannons.

All three individuals on the bridge stopped what they were doing as they watched twin reddish orange streams of deadly plasma race for the _Roxas_ until finally they saw the plasma collide with the ships engines and rip the entire rear of the _Roxas _apart after the plasma beams shorted out the ships still activated shields.

When the two imps saw this they began to jump up and down and cheer.

"Well now that that's done how about we head home boys?" Hades asked his two minions.

"We want object sir." Pain answered as he turned the ship around and set a course for The World That Never Was

And with that the _Cerberus_, which was still under cloak, sped off towards The World That Never Was at top speed it's occupants celebrating what they thought was the death of Sora and Riku.

Sora and Riku had barely just entered Radiant Garden's gravity well when they felt something slam into the back of the _Roxas_ which caused the entire ship to shake and rock.

"SHIT!" Sora and Riku cursed in unison as they were slung around in there seats.

"What was that?" Sora questioned Riku who was currently analyzing the damage report the ship was showing.

"This is not good." Riku said as he unfastened the restraints holding him to his seat and walked out of the cockpit.

Sora quickly undid his restraints as well but as he was walking for the door Riku walked back in.

What's the problem?" The younger teen asked.

"Our engines have been completely disintegrated, our shields have been burned out, and the ships super structure has taken on massive damage." Riku the paused for a moment before continuing "near as I can tell we were hit with a very powerful plasma beam. Where the beam originated from however, I have no idea." The platinum haired teen replied grimly.

"And all that translates to?" A confused Sora inquired not quite understanding what it all meant.

"It means someone attacked us and the ship is going to burn up in reentry and tear itself apart which means when the ship goes we'll be going with it." Riku clarified.

"You've got to be damn kidding me." Sora an astounded Sora said after Riku explained.

"No but on a lighter note I have a plan that could possibly save our lives." Smirked Riku as he walked out of the cockpit and down through the ships small living quarters and into it's cargo hold.

Sora followed his Riku every step of the way but was still slightly surprised they left the cockpit.

"What kind of crazy plan could he possibly have that involves us going into the cargo hold?" Sora asked himself as he stepped into the hold after Riku.

"Now Sora before you say anything I just want you to hear me out." Riku started out "My plan is for us to jump out of the cargo hold and use the strength of our hearts to help us enter the atmosphere." Riku finished which caused Sora's jaw to drop.

"Are you out of your mind? You actually want us to jump out of the ship which is giving us some cover from the temperature and enter the atmosphere by ourselves." Sora repeated to make sure Riku didn't have anything else to add on.

Riku simply nodded his head to confirm that that was the entire plan.

"Do you have any idea that this plan has even a small chance of success?" The brown haired boy inquired.

"Actually I have done something like this before when I was allied with Maleficent. Do you remember when we encountered each other in Neverland?" Riku asked back.

Sora nodded his head in reply.

"Well I used my heart's power to travel from Neverland with Kairi's body through Gummi Space and then arrive at Radiant Garden although I was completely drained of all my energy for awhile after the experience.

Sora stood there in silence for a moment with a serious expression on his face.

"Well Sora do you want to give it a shot?" Riku asked his brown haired friend.

Sora looked up at Riku with the serious expression still on his face but it quickly softened into a smile as he said "If you did this before and think we've got a shot of succeeding I'm all for it."

"Alright Sora but once we start there is no going back so get ready!" Riku shouted while a blue aura began to surround his body.

Sora began to gather strength from his heart and soon found himself surrounded by an aura similar to Riku's. Upon readying himself for Riku's plan Sora turned his attention back to Riku himself who had drawn his Keyblade The way to Dawn. Riku then charged the cargo hold door and sliced it diagonally in half.

"Sora hang on and follow me!" Instructed Riku as he was sucked out of the cargo hold and Radiant Garden's atmosphere.

"What did I get myself into!" Complained Sora as he to was sucked out of the cargo hold and out into Radiant Garden's atmosphere like Riku.

Sora could see Riku falling just a little ways below him. He looked like he was diving into a pool and the blue aura that surrounded his body also made him look like a small meteor.

As for Sora he was falling backwards and had his body in a spread eagle position so that he could see Riku out of the corner of his eye but was mostly still facing the _Roxas_. Sora could only stare in awe as he watched the ship rip it's self apart from the inside out and then give off a phenomenal explosion.

"Sora can you hear me?" The blue-eyed teen could hear Riku faintly yell out to him.

Sora turned his head slightly so that he could see Riku looking up at him with his hands cupped around his mouth "Yeah Riku what is it?"

"Are you getting crispy yet?" Riku asked yelling again through his cupped hands.

Sora thought about it for a moment and to tell the truth he didn't feel hot at all. He actually felt quite cool. The only explanation Sora could come up with to explain this was the enchanted clothes the three fairies at Yen Sid's castle had given him were keeping him cool.

"No my clothes are keeping me cool!" Sora called back to his friend.

"Well I feel like I'm about to become incinerated." Riku complained to his fellow WARRIOR.

"Well Riku this was your idea so you'll just have to deal with the consequences." Sora jokingly lectured Riku as the two broke through the atmosphere.

The pair looked on at the world below, which looked like a patchwork quilt made up of many different colored squared of fabric, which were growing, larger and more discernable by the second.

"Okay Riku what do we do now? We've broken through the atmosphere and reached terminal velocity. So how exactly are we supposed to land?" Sora asked as he looked down at his platinum haired friend.

"See if you can maneuver your body into a standing position and then channel all of the aura surrounding your body to your feet so that you make a cushion." Riku replied as he began to follow his own instructions.

It took a moment or so for Sora to get his body into a standing position but after a few tries he finally succeeded. After righting himself he began to focus on sending the aura surrounding his body to his feet. Slowly the aura began to snake it's way down Sora's body until it arrived at his feet.

Once the aura got there it shifted into a mushroom head shape. Sora then began to focus on sending more of his energy to his feet just to build up the cushioning power of the aura. Once Sora was satisfied with his cushioning he looked down at Riku and was amazed by what he saw.

Riku had produced a cushion that was three times larger than the one he had made!

"Hey Riku do you think you're cushion is big enough?" Sora remarked sarcastically.

"Do you think yours is small enough?" Riku shot back just as sarcastically as Sora.

"Whatever. But how much longer do you think until we hit the ground?" Sora asked.

Riku peeked over the edge of his cushion and saw that they were a lot closer to the ground than he thought they were.

"About eight seconds so hang on!" Riku answered as he clenched his teeth and braced himself for impact.

Sora shut his eyes and braced for impact as well. After a few seconds of silence he heard he heard a thunderous booming sound as he felt his cushion and himself slam into the ground at speeds he didn't even want to imagine.

When Sora opened his eyes he saw that he and Riku were lying in a three-meter tall crater. Despite the soreness he felt in his entire body Sora slowly sat up and looked around.

An unconscious Riku was lying to his left of him with his prussian blue eyes shut and both he and Riku had several small clinging pieces of blue aura on their shoes and boots. Sora propped himself up on the side of the crater and used it to slowly stand up.

"Now how are we going to get out of here?" Sora wondered aloud as he looked around the crater.

It was at that moment Riku began to stir and slowly sat up himself while mumbling "God I feel like shit."

"Believe me you like it to." Sora chided as he leaned down and helped his friend to his feet.

"Ha, ha Sora very funny." Riku muttered while he knocked the dirt from his clothes.

While Riku was dusting himself off Sora decided to bring up the problem of escaping the crater with Riku "So mister expert how do you propose we get out of the crater?"

"We climb of course." Riku said as though the answer was obvious while he drew his Keyblade.

"If I'd known I was going to go through all this when I agreed to this plan I think I would have stayed on the ship." Sora sarcastically complained as he to drew his Keyblade and began to use it to climb the crater wall.

After the partners had climbed out of the crater they began on trying to figure out were they were. They had landed in an area made up of many large grassy hills that were dotted with the odd tree or to and a little ways away from the hills was a large city.

"Hey Riku I wonder what city that is." Sora pondered as he walked over to a sign on the side of the road that he hoped would help him identify the unknown city.

Upon inspection of the sign Sora saw that the arrow pointing in the cities direction read that it was Endenglory. Sora face lit up as he yelled the news out to Riku.

"Riku that city up there is Endenglory!" The mahogany haired Keyblade wielder yelled enthusiastically.

"Well what are we waiting for let's go!" Riku called to Sora as he took off down the road.

"Hang on Riku! Wait for me!" Sora yelled after the platinum haired teen as the both ran as fast as their battered bodies would carry them to the equally battered city of Endenglory.

Elsewhere, far away from Radiant Garden, in a place completely devoid of light, one tired soul is engaged in an eternal fight against the darkness. The place where these battles took place was in a void made of nothing but the deepest most opaque darkness.

Standing in the very middle of the darkness stood an individual who wore one of the black coats of Organization XIII and had long spikey red hair that fell down across his back. Clutched in the red head's hands was a pair of white and red chakram, which served as his weapon of choice. This man was Axel the "Flurry of Dancing Flames".

Axel did not know how long he had been imprisoned in this void of endless darkness but the last thing he did remember was doing a suicide attack to save Sora and his friends from a horde of Dusk Nobodies. After which as he lay before Sora disintegrating he apologized for kidnapping Kairi. After that he remembered fading into darkness until he arrived where he was now.

He had no been there long though when he saw millions upon millions of Shadow and Neo Shadow Heartless and amongst them were thousands of Darkside Heartless. Ever since Axel had arrived in this hell he had been fighting the never-ending surge of dark creatures. Overtime his coat began to rip and tear and he began to suffer injuries inflicted by the Heartless. Gashes and cuts graced his arms and a long slash mark from which countless amounts of blood seeped went down his forehead and the number of wounds and cuts on his chest and back were uncountable. To tell the truth Axel didn't know how much longer he was going to last.

"Damn I hate these things!" Axel screamed in frustration as he hurled one of his flaming chakram into a pack of dark creatures, which exploded immediately.

Axel could tell the Heartless had him surrounded. He could see the horrible golden eyes of the Heartless as they encircled him always moving closer.

"Well if I'm going to make my last stand I might as well make it now and I dare any of you little bastards to stop me!" Axel challenged the Heartless as he held his chakram out to his sides and began to spin them.

The spinning disks were soon consumed in a blazing fire and so was Axel himself not long after them. The fire however just kept growing and growing instantly incinerating any of the dark creatures that decided to get close to it.

"All right boys are you ready for the finale!" Axel roared as his eyes turned solid white. As soon as Axel spoke these words the massive column a fire that had been expanding from his body turned into a full-blown hurricane of deadly flames.

Axel watched as countless of Heartless turned to ash upon contact with his flames but there were still so many of them and he was putting every ounce of his power and every fiber of his being into the attack. The attack lasted three more minutes claiming hundreds upon hundreds of Heartless. However the flames eventually began to die down and once they did a thoroughly exhausted Axel collapsed.

"Well I guess that's it I've officially hit the limit." Axel spoke somberly as he resigned himself to his fate.

He could see the Heartless encircling him preparing to deliver the final blow but then something happened.

Above him Axel could see a bright light that shone as brightly as a star. Axel looked around him and could see the Heartless illuminated by the light quivering and shaking.

"Well that was unexpected." A dumbstruck Axel said to himself.

"_Do you wish to find salvation Axel?"_ Axel thought he heard someone say.

"Say what now?" Said a confused Axel as he looked around trying to find the origin of the voice.

"_I'll say it again do wish to be free of this place, to atone for your past sins, and most importantly regain your heart?"_ The voice elaborated.

Now that got Axel's attention "Of course I do but for starters how am I supposed to get out of here?"

"_Accept your light Axel, accept that you are not beyond salvation and that you really do exist, feel the way you did when you sacrificed your life to help your friend Roxas who was inside Sora."_ The voice instructed serenely.

"And if I do that I can get out of this hell and truly make amends for what I did as number VIII in Organization XIII?" Axel questioned.

"_Yes."_ The voice replied simply.

"All righty then." Axel closed his eyes as he began to focus on what the voice told him to do.

Axel looked deep down inside his soul searching for the light the voice claimed was inside. Axel could see the void where his heart should be that was spreading the darkness inside of him but he couldn't see even the faintest glimmer of light.

"_Well maybe the mysterious voice was wrong."_ Axel concluded and was about to stop searching entirely when an image passed through his mind.

The image was of him and Roxas walking through the castle in the world that never was. They were talking and laughing just like regular people who you would never guess were Nobodies. Then he saw himself and Roxas fighting in the basement of the mansion in Twilight Town. Finally he saw himself sacrifice his own body, the only thing he truly had left, to save Sora who had combined with Roxas and housed his spirit.

Then at last Axel saw it! The light the voice had told him was there but at first he couldn't see. The light started out as a small spec at first but began to grow, and grow until it was the size of a star going super nova and as strong and bright as a gamma ray burst.

Axel's emerald eyes opened wide as he suddenly found himself reenergized by the light he had discovered within himself.

_I feel like there is no need for conversation  
Some questions are better left without a reason  
And I would rather reveal myself than my situation  
Now and then I consider, my hesitation_

Axel soon found himself slowly but confidently rising back to his feet the newly discovered light he found inside himself manifesting itself around him.

"So you did find your light after all." Axel could hear the voice say.

"You bet your ass I did." Axel smirked.

_The more the light shines through me  
I pretend to close my eyes  
The more the dark consumes me  
I pretend I'm burning, burning bright_

Axel then started to remember all of the horrible things he did as a member of Organization XIII. The murders he had committed, the lies he had told, and of course kidnapping Kairi. At first his motive for committing these atrocities being the return of his heart but his goal later changed to being reunited with his friend Roxas.

_I wonder if the things I did were just to be different  
To spare myself of the constant shame of my existence  
And I would surely redeem myself in my desperation  
Here and now I'll express, my situation_

"But despite all that I now realize my sins are not unforgivable and that I can atone for what I have done by giving back and help fight the darkness that helped shape and create people like me in the first place!" Axel declared as the light that surrounded his body grew larger and even brighter.

_The more the light shines through me  
I pretend to close my eyes  
The more the dark consumes me  
I pretend I'm burning bright_

The more the light shines through me  
I pretend to close my eyes  
The more the dark consumes me  
I pretend I'm burning

"_But what if the people you have hurt in the past don't want to give you forgiveness Axel what will you don then?"_ The voice asked testing Axel to see what his answer would be.

"Then I'll work and fight alongside them until I've proven myself to them and shown I'm worthy of their forgiveness." Axel flexed his soar muscles.

_There's nothing ever wrong but nothing's ever right  
Such a cruel contradiction  
I know I crossed the line its not easy to define  
I'm born to indecision  
There's always something new some path I'm supposed to choose  
With no particular rhyme or reason_

"Now I think it's time for me to be leaving I've got business beyond this void but before I go all of you bastard's can take this as my parting gift to you." Axel smugly addressed the Heartless, which were being kept at bay by the light surrounding his body.

All of a sudden the light began to expand from Axel's body in a way similar to how the flames used in his last attack did but this time it was different. The light spread much faster and not only destroyed the Heartless but it also caused the void the Heartless and Axel were in begin to crumble and break as well.

_The more the light shines through me  
I pretend to close my eyes  
The more the dark consumes me  
I pretend I'm burning bright_

The more the light shines through me  
I pretend to close my eyes  
The more the dark consumes me  
I pretend I'm burning

The light kept on expanding until finally all of the darkness and Heartless had been completely eradicated leaving just Axel standing alone in a realm of light.

"So now how do I get out of this place? Click my heels together and say there's no place like home over and over again." Axel said jokingly.

"_Where do you want to go?"_ Asked the voice.

Axel stood there and thought about it for a moment. To tell the truth he really didn't know where to go so he decided to tell the voice a little something unconventional.

"Send me where I need to be."

"_It will be as you say."_ The voice responded.

Suddenly a door that appeared to be made of silver and ivory appeared in front of Axel.

"_Please step through."_ The voice instructed.

Axel did as he was told and stepped through the door. Not really sure of what would be waiting for him on the other side.

I feel like there is no need for conversation 

When Axel walked through the door he found himself standing in a quiet empty street in the city of another world. Much to Axel's surprise he also no longer sported his torn coat of any of his injuries.

He was still dressed in an all black attire, which consisted of a pair of boots, jeans, t-shirt, a leather jacket, and a pair of fingerless gloves.

"Awesome new threads!" Axel cried out joyfully as he looked over the new clothes, which had replaced his old ones.

After Axel finished looking himself over he looked at his surroundings. Wherever he was at it was nightfall and he probably wouldn't be able to start on his atonement so he decided to try and find a hotel.

"I guess I'll start on my atonement tomorrow." Axel folded his hands behind his head and walked off down the street looking for a hotel.

"_Good luck Axel and may your quest for atonement be a successful one."_ Said the voice that had guided Axel out of his prison while Axel himself continued to walk down the dark street until he was completely lost from sight.

Authors Notes: Oh thank God I finally got this one finished. Next chapter is going to be completely Kiru oriented so this will be his first appearance since the first chapter. By the way it may be awhile before the next chapter is put up because I'm going on a vacation for a week and then a weeklong camp and then I've got to update my Gundam Seed story. But stay strong and I'll try and have the next one up as soon as possible.

Rau Le Creuset 88


	5. The Atrocity Exhibition

Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War

Let me just start out by saying I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. It would be pretty cool if I did but I don't so please don't sue me.

I only own Kiru, Rain, Andrew and the man in the Organization coat

Kiru sat in the newly added garage of the house he shared with Rain and Andrew working on his motorbike. The garage was something that Kiru and Andrew had built together after they had found what was left of an old busted up motorbike. It had taken about a month to build the garage and another month to completely restore the bike but now both were fully complete.

The bike, which greatly resembled Cloud's Fenrir, was a dark shade of blue with some black areas. The bike also like Cloud's Fenrir had compartments to store weapons so Kiru and Andrew tweaked with them a little so that Kiru would be able to store his Keyblades in the compartments. When the bike was finally completed Rain had decided she would name the bike Sleipnir after a legendary eight-legged horse from mythology book she had been reading.

Kiru himself had changed greatly since coming to live with Rain and Andrew.

Rain had taken him out shopping almost as soon as he had decided he would stay saying that he would need some new and extra clothes. Kiru did not like the idea of shopping per say but it gave him an excuse to hang out with Rain without Andrew being there. Rain ended up buying Kiru several outfits however Kiru ended up integrating bits and pieces of the outfits as well as parts of his old clothes together until he created an entirely new outfit to his liking.

Kiru now wore his old black boots, a new pair of black jeans, a black t-shirt, and his old black fingerless gloves. He also had a new coat that looked like his older one except it had metal plates on the shoulders and a small harness on the back near the waist, which could be used to hold his Keyblades.

Kiru stood up and wiped several large beads of sweat from his face with his arm as he looked over Sleipnir. Everything appeared to be in perfect working order, which pleased Kiru because that bike was his pride and joy.

"Hey Kiru would you like some fresh squeezed lemonade?" Kiru heard Rain's melodic voice say from behind him.

"Sure Rain some lemonade sounds pretty good." Kiru turned to face the azure haired girl who was holding a tray with a glass pitcher of lemonade and two glasses on it.

Rain set the tray down on a workbench inside the garage and poured Kiru and herself a glass of lemonade and held one of the beverages out to Kiru.

Kiru smiled and accepted the lemonade gratefully and took a large swig from the glass.

"My you must've been thirsty Kiru." Rain commented sweetly as she watched Kiru practically inhale the lemonade.

Kiru blushed at her sweetness and set the glass down on the table and offered Rain the table's chair while he sat on the table.

Kiru then stopped to take in Rain's appearance. She was wearing a navy blue sleeveless top, brown cargo pants and a pair of brown leather sandals. All of which looked gorgeous on her perfect body.

"So where is Andrew? I haven't seen him all day." Kiru commented as he refilled his glass.

"He went out early this morning saying he was going to go grocery shopping." Rain replied "But he has been gone along time…maybe he found something interesting to do while he was out." Rain suggested.

"Maybe so. Andrew always seems to find something to occupy his time even when he doesn't mean to." Kiru noted which got a small laugh out of Rain.

After that there was a small period of silence between the two as they sat there but Rain eventually decided to break it with a question.

"So Kiru have you had any more flashes lately? I know we all agreed to help you find out about yourself and all but we really don't have that much to go on." Rain turned and looked at Kiru with her entrancing gray eyes.

"Actually…yes I have." Kiru said almost as though he were nervous about discussing the topic "I had one a few days ago while Endenglory was under attack."

"Well what did you see?" Asked an obviously intrigued Rain.

"Well I saw that man Cloud again and this time there were others with him a woman with red eyes and long black hair, another woman with long brown hair in a pink dress, and a man dressed in black with a sword that partly resembled a gun." Kiru took a breath before continuing "and there were creatures that looked like those things called Heartless you and Andrew told me about all over the place and the weird think was it was like I was there in first person seeing it through someone else's eyes it was like a first person view."

While Kiru was talking about his flash he could see Rain looking at him intently completely focused on him and only him. Kiru had to admit all the attention from Rain kind of felt good.

"And all of them kept calling me Sephiroth and I kept saying things that I didn't even think of saying in someone else's voice. Then Cloud leapt up and started to fight with me and I had a sword that looked exactly like the one Sephiroth used in my other flashes and that is pretty much all I remember." Kiru concluded somberly as he turned away from Rain.

"That's so strange Kiru I wonder what all your flashes could mean?" Rain said as she moved her chair closer to Kiru.

"I don't know Rain I don't know. It just doesn't make any sense." Kiru said as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"It's okay Kiru we'll figure it out." Rain comforted as she stood up and embraced Kiru pressing her chest against his.

Kiru's eyes shot wide open at the sudden amount of contact between him and Rain. Kiru felt his face turn several different shades of red and felt his jeans tighten slightly.

"_Oh crap Rain's breasts are pressing against my chest and I'm getting excited! She's just trying to be nice is all…but they feel so soft and squishy even through her top." _Kiru thought to himself with a far off look on his crimson colored face.

Right then Rain broke the embrace she had Kiru in and saw how red Kiru appeared.

"_Oh shit!"_ Kiru screamed inside his mind _"Now what will Rain think of me?"_

"Oh Kiru were you thinking about those girls in your flash? You naughty boy." Rain said with a sly knowing look on her innocent face.

"_You have got to be kidding me."_ Kiru thought dumbstruck _"She's so innocent she doesn't even realized what happened." _

"Uh Kiru wake up and quit fantasizing." Rain waved her hand in front of Kiru's eyes for emphasis.

"Oh sorry!" Kiru said snapping out of his reverie "Your right of course Rain I really shouldn't do that!" He stammered quickly.

"Yeah why would you need to when you've got a pretty girl like me to look at?" Rain gave a playful wink as she picked up the lemonade tray and walked from the garage.

Kiru found himself looking at her intently as she walked out of the garage taking in every inch of her perfect, and delicate frame. Kiru even sat there like that even after Rain had walked out of the garage.

Kiru finally snapped out of it hitting himself playfully in the side of the head "Idiot." He scolded "You've got to stop doing that or she's gonna think your some kind of pervert or a freak and you'll never have a shot with her."

After berating himself Kiru decided to run just one more check on Sleipnir just to make sure everything really was in perfect working order "And then I'll go talk to Rain and try and make her think I'm not some kind of pervert." Kiru thought to himself hopefully as he sat down beside his bike and went to work on checking it for problems again hoping that he somehow hadn't made Rain think he really was a pervert.

Outside Shinedown Pete was walking with his small army of Heartless. Maleficent had contacted Sephiroth and him not long after their strike on Endenglory and informed them there would be a change in plans. Sephiroth was to return to The World That Never Was and Pete was to stay in Radiant Garden and upon receiving Heartless reinforcements pillage and attack as many towns and villages as he possibly could.

This arrangement was fine with Pete of course. He had plenty of troops he could use to protect himself with if necessary and most of all Sephiroth was gone.

Pete's first chosen target would be the little village of Shinedown, which he thought would be a good place to test out the level of havoc he could cause with his new Heartless troops. In his little horde Pete had one hundred Cannon Guns, twenty Hook Bats, one hundred Armored Knights, ten Gargoyle Knights, ten Gargoyle Warriors, and fifty Luna Bandits which only usually appeared in the world Agrabah.

Pete himself was standing on the hill Kiru had awoken under and was scooping out the small village.

"Looks like an easy enough target and it would please Maleficent if I destroyed something no matter how small it is." Pete reasoned while he rubbed his chin with an equally massive hand.

"All righty then Shinedown it is!" Pete finally declared before turning to his Heartless " Cannon Guns line up around the town and begin bombardment! As for the rest of you just go down there and show those twerps what happens when all Hell breaks loose." Pete ordered.

Almost instantaneously the Heartless began to carry out there orders the Cannon Guns lined up and began to enter firing positions while the other Heartless began to charge down the hill towards the town.

Pete just sat there watching with a big smile on his face as he saw the Cannon Guns begin their siege and the others beginning their raid all the while thinking there would be no resistance. Unfortunately for him he did not know about Kiru.

Kiru had just finished the checks on his bike and stood up when he heard what sounded like explosions coming from outside and what sounded like the front door of the house breaking down.

"Kiru help!" He heard Rain scream with a terror he had never heard before.

Kiru took of through the door that lead from the garage into the house and ran to wear the front door was located. When he arrived he saw Rain on the floor eyes wide with fear while a black creature dressed in white clothes, and a gold cloak, wielding two red and black scimitars stood over her swords raised ready to deliver the deathblow.

"Oh no you don't!" Kiru thundered as he got in between Rain and the creature Fallen Angel appearing in his right hand as he did, he then shoved the black Keyblade straight through the Luna Bandit's chest causing it to disintegrate and the heart within it to be released.

"Are you all right Rain?" Kiru asked as he helped the terrified girl to her feet.

Rain nodded when she was back on her feet before stammering out "Kiru that thing was a Heartless!"

"So that was a Heartless? Interesting." Kiru said as he headed back for the garage while gesturing for Rain to follow.

Kiru walked back through the garage door's threshold followed by Rain.

Kiru walked over to the coat rack his coat was hung on and quickly donned the garment. Once he had the coat on he zipped it halfway down and slid Fallen Angel into one of the harnesses on the back of the coat. He then quickly materialized Redeemed Demon and did the same with it.

"Rain do you think you could ride Sleipnir if you needed to?" Kiru asked as he turned and faced the blue haired girl.

"Yeah I could but why do you ask?"

"I want you to stay in the garage but if any of the Heartless get in here I want you to take Sleipnir and come find me." Kiru said tossing Rain Sleipnir's keys, which she caught with both hands.

"And what will you be doing while I wait here?" Rain asked once she had pocketed the keys.

"I'm going to see if I can find out what's going on and see if I can find Andrew." Kiru answered with determination in his voice as he walked towards the door that lead back into the main part of the house "Just remember Rain anything gets in you take off."

"Right." Rain said in response before she saw Kiru shut and lock the door he walked out of.

Kiru himself walked back through the house and out of the fallen front door into absolute chaos.

Houses and shops were burning, bodies were laying in the street, children were crying, people were running frantically, explosions could be heard everywhere, and most importantly Heartless where everywhere.

Kiru found himself enraged by what he saw. These monsters had come into his adopted home and were destroying the lives of the people within the village who had treated him like one of there own when he first arrived.

Kiru drew Redeemed Demon and pointed it at an armored Knight that stood in the middle of two others and shouted angrily "BULLET!"

A large amount of alabaster colored energy began to form at the ends of the Keyblade's three barrels and shot off at godlike speeds towards the Armored Knight. When the blast connected the Armored Knight was blown into the outside wall of a store before it disintegrated and released the heart inside of it.

"Pathetic." Kiru scolded the now nonexistent Heartless while he drew Fallen Angel with his right hand and rushed the two remaining Heartless. The Knights tried to defend with their swords but Kiru's Keyblades simply cut through the swords and then there wielders as well "And you two were just as weak." Kiru added insult to injury right before the Heartless exploded into atoms.

Kiru then turned his attention elsewhere and saw a group of Luna Bandits, and Hook Bats preparing to attack several defenseless people.

He ran towards the Heartless right as the Luna Bandits cut into the unarmed civilians killing all of them in seconds.

"Bastards!" Kiru roared as he leapt into the air and barrel rolled landing right in front of the Luna Bandits.

Kiru quickly brought up Fallen Angel and sliced off three of the Bandits heads with bone chilling ease. The two remaining Bandits attempted to double team Kiru one rushing him from the back and the other attacking from the front. Kiru simply pointed Redeemed Demon backwards and fired a Bullet spell and then bisected the one attacking him from his front.

While Kiru had his back turned though two of the Hook Bats swooped in and got a hold of his arms lifting him into the air.

"_Damn!"_ Kiru thought as the sudden surprise of the attack caused him to drop his Keyblades.

Then as it would happen two Gargoyle Knight Heartless noticed his predicament and decided to take advantage of the situation. The Heartless leapt into the air and prepared to ram their swords through Kiru's chest.

"_If only I had my Keyblades I could defend myself."_ Kiru thought despairingly when he felt something materialize in each of his hands.

It took Kiru a split second to realize his Keyblades had materialized in his hands before he brought them up and deflected the Knight's attacks. Kiru then thrust Fallen Angel through one of the Hook Bats causing it to explode, partially releasing him.

He repeated the move with the other Hook Bat, which exploded and released him causing to fall to the ground on his knees in front of the Gargoyle Knights.

Kiru charged the two gray Heartless and sliced one in half with his Redeemed Demon while he decapitated the other with Fallen Angel.

After his adversary's had vanished Kiru paused for a moment breathing heavily. There were so many enemies and so many factors to this situation and he still hadn't seen Andrew either. If he could just find the Heartless' source he could defeat it and then maybe the Heartless would stop.

"But until I can find that source I'll look for Andrew." Kiru said to himself as he stood up and charged forward with his weapons searching for his friend.

Pete was still standing on top of the hill observing the battle when he saw what looked like from this distance someone destroying his Heartless. He couldn't make out the exact details of what was going on but the Heartless destroyer was dressed in black and wielding two strange, suspiciously familiar, looking swords.

"Naw it couldn't be one of those key toting twerps Hades said he blasted the ship and that the ship exploded coming into Radiant Garden. There's no way it could be them." Pete reasoned "But whoever he is he is a threat that must be gotten rid of." Pete turned to some of his Cannon Guns "Fire on that guy right there!" Pete ordered the Heartless as he pointed one of his large fingers at the almost indistinguishable black clad man.

The Heartless obeyed and instantly started to open fire on the sword wielding man.

Pete laughed as he saw the man dance around desperately trying to avoid the attacks from his Cannon Guns. Whoever this nuisance was the Cannon Guns would take care of him and that would be the end of that or at least that was what Pete was hoping for.

As for Kiru just like Pete observed he was desperately trying to avoid the deadly rain of projectiles from above. Kiru at least had two advantages, one being the Heartless symbol would appear wherever a projectile was going to land, and two he was reacting with speed and agility he never even new he had.

"Damn!" Kiru cursed as he narrowly avoided one of the exploding projectiles _"Those shots are coming from out of town and whatever is shooting is to far away for me to snipe with Redeemed Demon so pretty much all I can do is wait for an opportunity to run to present itself and then take off."_ Kiru grimly analyzed.

Unbeknownst to Kiru however, when he dodged the last shell he had landed on a Heartless crest and that very moment a shell was plummeting directly towards him.

Right as the shell was about to hit though Kiru was tackled by a black and tan blur which knocked him out of the shells way.

"What the hell was that?" Kiru grumbled right as the shell exploded signaling that it had hit the ground.

"That would be me." Kiru heard Andrew's gruff voice reply.

And sure enough when Kiru looked up there was Andrew dressed completely in black except for his unzipped tan jacket "Need a hand?" Andrew said as he offered Kiru his hand.

Kiru took it and the dark skinned man lifted him off the ground "Thanks Andrew but where have you been? I've been looking all over for you." Asked a puzzled Kiru.

"I could ask you the same thing." Andrew retorted "But that's not important, where is Rain?"

"I told her to stay in the garage and if anything gets in to take off with Sleipnir and come find me." Kiru informed Andrew of the instructions he had given Rain.

"Well let's get back there and get her now that we've found each other." Andrew said as he began to run back in the direction of their home.

"He wait up!" Kiru called as he chased after Andrew.

It didn't take Andrew and Kiru long to run back to there home. When they arrived they stopped in front of the still shut garage door and punched in the code that would open it.

A second passed before the door began to rise off the ground and five seconds later the pair were standing there looking at Rain who was huddled over beside Sleipnir.

"Rain are you all right?" Kiru and Andrew asked simultaneously as they walked over to the azure haired woman.

"Yeah I'm fine I was more concerned about you two!" Rain exclaimed as she jumped up and embraced her friends in a warm hug.

"Well as you can see we're both fine so let's get out of here. There are two many Heartless to fight off Shinedown is a lost cause." Kiru informed Rain grimly as he walked over to Sleipnir.

"Yeah Rain let's-." Andrew was cut off in mid sentence as a large black and red scimitar was impaled through his chest causing small trickles of blood to trail out of his mouth.

"ANDREW!" Rain let out a horrified scream as her friend fell to the ground eyes fogging over while the Luna Bandit that had slain him withdrew it's scimitar from Andrew's body.

"YOU SUNNOVA BITCH!" Kiru roared anger and hatred seething from every word as he ran forward shoved all three barrels of Redeemed Demon into the Heartless' chest and pushed it to the ground and finally screamed out "BULLET!"

The Bandit never stood a chance as energy began to gather around the tips of the three barrels. When the shot finally did discharge The Heartless and Kiru were momentarily engulfed in a brilliant flash of light. However, when the smoke did clear Kiru was standing alone with the point of Redeemed Demon slightly buried in a crater about the size of a Heartless' body.

Kiru turned around to find Rain holding Rodger's now lifeless body in her arms, tears welling up in her eyes "He was like a brother to me Kiru…we grew up together…I just can't believe he's gone!" Rain burst into tears unable to control the pain and sorrow she felt.

Kiru just stood there clenching his fist. Whoever was behind this attack would pay dearly. Not only had they killed Andrew one of his only friends and a man who had taken him into his home but they had made Rain cry and that was something he would not stand for.

"Rain." Kiru whispered gently placing a hand on the woman's shoulder which made her look up at him with her tear stained face "Come on were going to get the bastard's responsible for this but first change your clothes your covered in blood." Kiru smiled when he said the last part.

Rain looked down at herself she was indeed covered with blood. She then looked back up at Kiru and nodded which made Kiru smile.

It took Rain about ten minutes to change into her new clothes a pair of faded jeans and a green blouse. Even in this dire situation Kiru couldn't help but marvel at Rain's ethereal beauty.

"Ready to go?" Kiru asked trying to sound as upbeat as possible to try and cheer up his mourning friend.

"Yeah let's go get them." Rain said wiping away tears that were running down her face.

The pair walked back out into the garage where Sleipnir was waiting on them. Rain tossed Kiru the keys and Kiru put his Keyblades in each of the side compartments of the bike.

Kiru got on the bike and waited for Rain to get on behind him before he started the bike. They then took a moment to look over at Andrew who was laying lifelessly in a pool of his own blood. It was a painful sight for them to look at but even more so for Rain because she had known Andrew for what seemed like forever.

Kiru eventually revved the engine and the bike took off with a roar. As the pair road through what was left of the village of Shinedown they saw bodies everywhere and buildings burning, it was an atrocity what had happened here in this peaceful little place that had never felt the ravages of battle or war.

There were however, no Heartless. They had apparently left while Kiru and Rain were preparing to leave. Kiru however, was now determined to hunt them down and bring the leader of those Heartless to justice.

When they had finally ridden out of the village they stopped by the tree that Kiru had awoken under. Kiru stepped off the bike and looked around at the ground. There were many different types of tracks all over the hill but all of them were heading north.

"Kiru what are you looking for?" He could hear Rain ask from the bike.

"I was looking for a sign of where those bastards went and I think I found it." Kiru responded as he got back on the bike and felt Rain wrap her arms around his waist.

"So where are we going?" Rain asked the heart melting melody she usually had beginning to return t her voice.

"North." Kiru said simply his voice full of determination.

Kiru revved the bikes engines once more and he and Rain took off north hot on Pete's trail.

Authors Notes: At last finished! I'm quite pleased with this chapter I got a lot more out of it than I thought I would. Sorry for the wait though guys the next chapter will be up way sooner so read and enjoy!

Rau Le Creuset 88


	6. The Melodious Nocturne

Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War

Let me just start out by saying I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. It would be pretty cool if I did but I don't so please don't sue me and now on with the story!

I only own Kiru, Rain, and the man in the Organization coat

I don't own the song Next Contestant by Nickelback

Inside their home in Endenglory Leon, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Cid and Yuffie were having a meeting with the newly arrived Sora and Riku who had taken about a day or so since arriving to recover their strength, since they had used most of it in there attempt to make planet fall, and the rest just to make it to Leon and company's home.

"So now that we are all back in peak condition how about we start our meeting." Cloud suggested while shooting glances at Leon, Sora, and Riku.

"Yeah let's figure out how we're going to kick Sephiroth's ass!" Yuffie chirped enthusiastically.

Everyone else either nodded or just sat down in the living room where the meeting was to be held. Once everyone was seated and comfortable Leon started the meeting off.

"As all of you should know are reason for being here is the attack by Sephiroth on Endenglory." Leon started "From what we could tell he started out with about ten Lance Soldiers, ten Morning Stars, five Surveillance Robots, and eighty Soldiers and Armored Knights with which he attacked the city directly and he also had a bombardment force posted outside the city which suggests he may have had an accomplice controlling those Heartless. Any questions so far?"

It was Sora who spoke up "Do we have any idea of who the accomplice might have been?"

"No we don't. It is very unsual for Sephiroth to work with anyone as an ally so we don't have any possible suspects to look at." Leon replied to the brown haired Keyblade master "Now if there are no more questions I will go on." When no one spoke Leon decided to continue the briefing "There were also two Heartless of a type we have never encountered before which Sephiroth identified as an Abbadon a Heartless type he created."

This time Yuffie interrupted "Squall what do these Abbadons look like? This is the first I've heard of them."

"Don't call me Squall, Kisaragi." Leon replied agitatedly before answering her question "They resemble Neo Shadows but have a pair of horns instead of antennas and were metallic colored armor on their shoulders, forearms, chest, thighs, and feet. They also wear a metallic colored helmet on their heads, which has some kind of blade coming out of the top and like Sephiroth they have a large black wing on their left side and wield a Masamune. However, unlike regular Heartless they don't have the Heartless crest on their chest." Leon stopped and took in a breath as he finished detailing the Abbadons.

"How strong are these Abbadons?" Riku asked from his position on the couch.

"They are formidable. Sort of like fighting weaker versions of Sephiroth." Tifa answered for Leon this time.

"What about the RGDC have they taken any actions towards apprehending Sephiroth? Or have you guys informed them that WARRIOR was going to become involved?" Sora asked not referring the question to any one specific person.

Cid answered the question while taking a puff of his cigarette "We contacted the head of state and informed him WARRIOR had been contacted and he said RGDC troops were just going to be deployed around major cities in larger numbers for security purposes and in smaller groups in smaller towns and villages."

"That's almost practically martial law and anyway where does he plan to house the RGDC members in smaller areas where there are no established military bases or barracks?" Riku pointed out to the group.

"Riku has a good point. We should probably inform the head of state of the implications that strategy will have." Cloud spoke for the first time since the meeting started.

"Spiky has a point one of you two should tell the head of state about that." Cid said gesturing towards Sora and Riku with his cigarette.

"Cid's right. I'll get on that tomorrow." Riku stated.

"Well now that that little order of business has been discussed is there anything else that we need to discuss about the Sephiroth situation?" Leon asked looking around the room at everyone waiting to see if someone would say anything.

"Actually I was wondering where Sephiroth's headquarters could be. He can't keep moving around constantly so he must have a place where he can stop and plan." Aerith explained in a way that suggested she was talking to the room at large but the entire time she spoke she looked directly at Leon.

"That's right Aerith! Good thinking!" Yuffie shouted while looking at the older woman with a smile.

"But Radiant Garden is a big world and he could use the darkness to travel anywhere in Radiant Garden he wanted or to other worlds for that matter." Tifa said complicating the Sephiroth problem even further.

"Uh this whole thing is just one big headache." Sora complained running his gloved hands through his hair "I wish that asshole would just show up in public so we could beat him down."

"Well how about we tell Sora and Riku about the surprise we have for them seeing as how Sora seems frustrated with this situation already." Aerith suggested brightly.

"Surprise? What are you talking about Aerith?" Riku asked sounding slightly suspicious.

"Well tonight at the Faded Glory Coliseum there's going to be a rock concert and seeing as how you guys came to help us and everything we thought you guys might enjoy it." Aerith clarified.

"Awesome!" Sora declared jumping up from his seat excitedly acting as though he were a three year old.

"I actually wouldn't mind it's been awhile since I've done something like this." Riku said a small smile playing across his face.

"In that case we should all start getting ready." Leon pointed out.

"Leon's right let's go get ready!" Tifa shouted as she ran up to hers and Cloud's room.

Aerith however waited for everyone else to file out of the room before she grabbed Leon, who was bringing up the rear, and pulled him back.

"Yeah Aerith what is it?" Leon asked as he turned to face the brown haired beauty.

"I was wondering if you would help me try and figure out what to wear… I mean I've never really gone to a rock concert before so I was you know just wondering if you could help me pick out something." Aerith asked the Gunblade wielder nervously while blushing furiously.

Leon couldn't believe it. She was actually inviting him into her room to help her pick out an outfit and to top it off she looked so cute when she was nervous it was just enough to make Leon explode.

"So will you Leon?" He heard Aerith's heart warming voice ask, breaking him out of his trance like reverie.

"Sure." Leon managed to stutter out turning a light shade of red, which was something that like his recent habit of giving smiles was not very common.

"Great." Aerith brightened some of the red leaving her face as she grabbed Leon by the hand and began to lead him up to her room.

While Leon himself was thinking _"Please God don't let me pass out."_

Elsewhere far away from Radiant Garden in The World That Never Was, Maleficent stood atop the Alter of Naught along with Hades, Scar, and Sephiroth planning their next assault.

"I think this would be a good place to attack." Maleficent said pointing at a location on the map, which they had set up on a table atop the tower, with one of her long magenta colored nails "Plenty of civilians to turn into Heartless and a very nice place to cause even more havoc."

"What about here?" Hades gestured to another place on the map "The RGDC has one of their major headquarters there and taking that out could be very beneficial to us."

"Whatever location you all pick it doesn't matter. The new Liger Heartless and myself are perfectly capable of taking any fortress, city, town, or village apart." Scar boasted as his flaming tail swished from side to side.

"What do you think Sephiroth?" Maleficent asked the silver haired warrior who had quietly stood with his arms folded since the meeting began.

"Yeah Sephiroth! You're supposed to be the big tactician! Which location would be better for an attack mine or Maleficent's?" Hades added walking over to the man and throwing his arm around his neck.

"It's mine obviously Hades I am a far better strategist than you!" Claimed Maleficent.

"You couldn't strategize your way out of a wet paper bag." Hades muttered but did it loud enough so Maleficent could hear "And besides it's mine isn't it Sephiroth?" Hades asked in his mellow voice while searching Sephiroth's cold mako eyes for a sign that Sephiroth was indeed on his side.

"Actually I think they're both bad locations." Sephiroth said coldly while he brushed off Hades' arm.

"What!" Both Maleficent and Hades exclaimed together.

"How can they both be wrong?" Maleficent questioned the Masamune wielder, to which Hades added, "Yeah Sephiroth how can they?" As the fire atop his head turned red and flared up.

"Because this one is better." Sephiroth declared a commanding tone entering his voice as he gestured at another location on the map, different from Maleficent's and Hades'.

Both Maleficent and Hades practically glided towards the table to get a look at the location Sephiroth had deemed to be a better target than their own. However, upon getting a look at the location Sephiroth had specified they both turned to face Sephiroth and shouted, "What's the big idea we've already attacked there once! What would be the point in attacking again?"

"It's actually quite simple my friends" Sephiroth began causing both Maleficent and Hades to lean in closer so that they would hear his every word perfectly "Since we've already attacked them, and attacked them quite well I might add, they are in a weakened state and therefore are subject to an even more brutal attack this time." Sephiroth explained slowly as though he were addressing two small children.

"Ah I see Sephiroth. So what we are basically gonna do is kick um while they're down that's brilliant." Hades complemented Sephiroth once he realized what the silver haired man was suggesting.

"Yes Sephiroth very clever indeed." Maleficent added giving Sephiroth even more praise.

"It's actually quite average in terms of battle strategies." Sephiroth said trying to sound as modest as he possibly could while thinking _"You two really are imbeciles! That cowardly idiot Pete probably would of thought of this before you two!"_

"So myself and the Liger Heartless will be attacking Endenglory." Scar commented after he had sauntered up lazily and looked at the location Sephiroth had selected "But my question is this. Is there anywhere you were thinking of having me single out and attack in particular?" The lion asked as he looked up at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth looked down at the undead Lion and gave a dark looking grin "Not really Scar. Just pick the target where you think you could do the most damage or inflict the most casualties."

"It will be as you say Sephiroth. I will go ahead and depart with the Ligers immediately." Scar grimaced as he began to walk towards the winding staircase that snaked around the Alter of Naught so that he could descend.

"Scar hold on for a moment." Scar heard Sephiroth tell him from behind in a way that sounded like an order instead of a request.

"Yes Sephiroth what is it?" The Lion asked politely as he turned to face the man with the large black wing.

"If you see Cloud Strife while your out give him my regards and tell him to congratulate Leonhart on getting to play with that little whore Gainsborough."

"Sure." Scar replied simply while thinking as he walked down the tower stairs _"What a strange message."_

And coincidentally right as Scar was thinking that both Maleficent and Hades were as well.

Sephiroth then turned and faced Maleficent and Hades who still looked puzzled over the message Sephiroth asked Scar to deliver to Cloud.

"I assume our meeting is concluded for today Maleficent?" Sephiroth asked the puzzled looking woman.

"Yes we are dismissed." Maleficent said hurriedly snapping out of her puzzled reverie.

"In that case I will take my leave I have some business to attend to." The silver haired man said curtly as a dark portal opened and he briskly walked into the swirling opaque void leaving Maleficent and Hades staring at the place he had been moments before.

"So where do you think mister dark and mysterious is always going off to?" Hades asked the dark fairy conversationally.

"God only knows but if all it costs us for him to be aligned with us is the freedom to come and go as he pleases I want say anything about." Maleficent replied as she to began to walk towards the Alter of Naught's stairs.

"Hey wait for me!" Hades shouted, after he realized he was being left alone and ran off after Maleficent, leaving the Alter of Naught completely abandoned… or so he thought.

Unbeknownst to the group while they had been planning their new attack on Endenglory a figure in an Organization XIII coat sat in front of one of the columns bearing a Heartless effigy. The figure had masked his presence so well it appeared as though he had just gotten there when everyone left.

The figure had up to this point remained silent while munching on a light green apple he had clutched in his black gloved hand but finally commented to himself "Roxange was right the fairy is overly conceited and to overconfident. In fact so blinded is she by the power she thinks she wields she doesn't even see that all that awaits her dreams of so called universal domination is failure."

The figure took another bite of his apple and took a moment to chew before saying "However, his attack on Endenglory intrigues me I might just go watch it for myself seeing as I have nothing better to do."

The black clad man then took one last bite of his apple so that all that was left was the core before he stood up and threw it over the side of the tower. He then opened a portal like Sephiroth had done minutes before and walked through leaving the Alter of Naught truly empty.

Meanwhile back in Endenglory Leon was following Aerith into her room. The room itself had a paint scheme of the lower half of the walls being dark green while the upper part was colored white. The room was decorated by several framed pictures of flower arrangements as well as the ornate wall clock given to her by Merlin decorated the room. The room also had a queen-sized bed with two white pillows, white sheets, and a mellow yellow comforter; the room also had a small bookcase in one corner a desk a small mirror on it with a chair and across from it the alabaster doors of Aerith's closet.

"Okay Leon now turn around so I can change my clothes." Aerith commanded sweetly her statement causing her cheeks to redden slightly.

"Oh sure!" Leon replied hurriedly as he turned around which earned him a small giggle from Aerith.

Leon could hear Aerith shuffling around behind _"Trying to get undressed." _The Gunblade wielder thought pleasantly _"God I wish I could see that."_ Leon then looked down at Aerith's desk, which, he was in front of and his wish had apparently come true.

In the small mirror on Aerith's desk Leon could see Aerith removing her dress!

"_No way!"_ Leon mentally shouted unable to believe his good fortune. Something was starting to go right for him.

Leon looked on watching Aerith's every move inside the mirror. Once Aerith had removed the dress Leon could see her standing there in a pair of light pink panties and a matching bra that held up her perfect C-cup breasts. Upon seeing this Leon's eyes about shot out of his head however, as though he were hypnotized he continued to look.

Leon watched Aerith bend over into her closet looking through clothes and saw Aerith's large perky butt through the thin fabric of Aerith's panties along with the rest of her curves.

Leon couldn't take anymore he had to shut his eyes. If he saw anymore he might not be able to control his actions or have a heart attack. _"But Aerith's butt is even bigger than Tifa's."_ This thought made a devilish grin play across his face "You can never really tell how big it is because she is always wearing those dresses!" But now Leon knew. However, he only considered it a bonus that rounded out the remarkable woman that was Aerith Gainsborough.

"Okay Leon you can look now." Leon could hear her innocent voice call from behind him.

Leon turned and saw Aerith standing they're wearing a teal colored dress and a pair of black boots with a teal ribbon tied in her hair. "God does everything look good on this woman?" Leon pondered in his mind before he remembered his job "The dress looks great Aerith but it might be better if you wore something black." Leon suggested.

"Oh okay." Aerith said brightly "I've only got one pair of black clothes which I don't wear very often but I think they'll be acceptable. Just turn back around Leon."

"Okay Aerith." Leon replied as he turned around as Aerith requested.

Leon stood there not looking in the mirror this time because he wanted to surprised by what kind of outfit Aerith was going to wear_. "I didn't even realize Aerith had any kind of black clothes they just don't seem like a common kind of clothing she would wear. Although she did say it was the only black clothes she had and it is Aerith so it can't be that bad."_ Leon thought as he heard Aerith moving behind him.

"Okay Leon you can turn around." He heard Aerith say.

"Okay Aerith. That sure was fast by the way." Leon said as he turned around. What he saw Aerith wearing nearly made him explode.

Aerith stood wearing a short provocative black leather miniskirt, a black blouse with a matching vest over it, a pair of knee high black leather boots, and a black ribbon was now tied in her hair.

"So what do you think?" Aerith asked her cheeks burning red.

Leon felt his mouth gaping but he didn't care. She looked so good in that outfit Leon felt again like he might lose his self-control. It all just conformed to her so well and she just looked so innocent and pure in it. The outfit was the perfect contrast to Aerith it complemented her perfectly. So it was obvious what Leon's response would be or at least Leon thought so anyway.

"Aerith I think this is the most beautiful I have ever seen you." Leon found himself saying.

His response really made Aerith redden her face turned an entire new spectrum of red before she replied, "You really think so?"

"I know so." Leon said smoothly before he asked "But where did you get that outfit anyway Aerith? It just doesn't seem like something you would go out and buy."

"Actually Tifa got it for me for my birthday." Aerith explained her cheeks beginning to return to their normal color.

"Oh I see." Leon replied. That one sentence explained everything.

"So are you ready to go?" Aerith asked as the azure-eyed man.

"Yeah let's go." Leon answered, a smile on his face as the two walked out of Aerith's room and shut the door behind them.

When they arrived downstairs everyone else was already waiting for them. The only ones who had really changed clothes were Aerith, Tifa and Yuffie. Tifa was wearing pretty much the same thing as Aerith except she wore a leather zip up belly shirt, and had no bow, and Yuffie herself wore black shorts and a black t-shirt with the phrase 'Melodious Nocturne' written across the chest of the shirt in bold dark blue writing.

Aerith's attire though was by far the most shocking and out of character and was received with many surprised remarks and some expected ones.

"So you finally wore my present!" Tifa exclaimed hands on her hips

"Aerith…wow." Sora managed to get out despite his mouth having dropped almost to the floor.

"Hey you and Tifa almost match." Yuffie chirped comparing the two.

"It's different." Riku said simply.

"Aerith you look sexier than all the girls down at the strip club!" Cid shouted voicing his approval of the outfit.

Cloud just stood looking her over silently but the smile that spread over his face said what he couldn't.

Aerith was blushing profusely by the time everyone had finished remarking about her outfit.

"Don't be embarrassed Aerith. You look sexy in that outfit and there's nothing wrong with that." Leon whispered huskily into Aerith's ear not meaning for it to actually sound the way it did.

"Leon's a playa! Look at the way he just whispered into Aerith's ear!" Leon heard Sora jokingly accuse him, which caused him to jerk away from Aerith and turn as crimson as Aerith was a moment before.

"Well I guess we should get going shouldn't we? What time does the concert start anyway?" Riku asked.

"Nine o' clock." Yuffie answered nonchalantly.

"Well it's five till nine so you guys might want to be taken off right about now." Cid said sarcastically as he gestured toward the clock hanging on the wall.

Everyone looked up at the clock and realized that Cid was right. They now had less than five minutes to get to the Faded Glory Coliseum before the concert started.

"Well me and Tifa will see the rest of you there." Cloud addressed the room at large as he and Tifa walked out to Fenris.

"I guess the rest of us will be taking my car." Leon grumbled not really wanting to have Yuffie bouncing around in his precious car, while he stalked off to find the keys.

Leon walked back to his room and found the keys sitting on his nightstand right were he had left them. Leon was getting ready to turn around when he felt a soft hand latch onto his shoulder. Leon quickly turned around to discover that it was Aerith who had grabbed his shoulder.

"I wanted to thank you for what you said about my outfit earlier." She said sweetly with her head cocked to the side, and a small tint of red in her cheeks.

"It was nothing." Leon replied modestly "There really is nothing wrong with you dressing in sexy clothes Aerith." Leon added truthfully a small smile on his face.

There was a brief comfortable moment of silence between the two during which they made eye contact.

"Leon I-." Aerith began before she was cut off by a shrill teenage voice.

"Come on Squall! Get your ass down here were or were going to miss the start of the concert!" Yuffie Kisaragi wailed as loud as she could.

"Damn Yuffie before this nights over I'm going to strangle her. I can just feel it." Leon agitatedly predicted which made Aerith laugh.

Leon stalked out of his room picking up his Gunblade and strapping it to his back as he did. Aerith followed him with a cheerful look on her face and the pair went out to Leon's car along with Sora, Riku, and Yuffie.

The car resembled a Ford Mustang fastback except for the addition of two very small seats in the back of the car. The car was colored metallic gray and the license plate bore the word Griever. The car was one of Leon's most prized possessions.

The group all crammed themselves into the small but fast car. Leon driving of course with Aerith in the passenger's seat, Yuffie sitting in her lap, and Sora and Riku cramming themselves into the two small seats in the back.

"Everyone ready?" Leon asked a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

"Yes." Was the general reply he received from the passengers.

"Good because were going to be going a little fast." Leon said simply as he turned on his car, floored the gas pedal, and made the car fly off towards the Faded Glory Coliseum so that passing vehicles looked like blurs.

"Leon how fast are we going?" Sora asked from his spot in the backseat.

"I don't know Sora the speedometer only goes to 175." Leon grimaced as he turned the corner and took off down the street that would get them to the Coliseum.

When they finally arrived ten seconds later everyone stumbled out of the car except Leon who acted as though this were an everyday thing. After everyone, excluding Leon, had regained their equilibrium they proceeded to enter to Coliseum. Once inside they showed the ticket collectors their tickets they headed up the stairs towards there section where they imagined Cloud and Tifa would be waiting.

When they were halfway up the stairs Aerith suddenly remembered something "Guys I meant to go get some snacks for us to eat while we watch. You guys go on up and I'll run back down and get them."

"Okay Aerith." Sora and Yuffie said as they both took off up the stairs together.

"Will you need any help?" Riku asked the auburn haired girl.

"Yeah Aerith I'll help you just say the word." Leon added.

"No. You guys go on up so you don't miss the beginning of the concert." Aerith said firmly.

"Suit yourself." Riku said soberly as he began to walk up the stairs after Sora and Yuffie.

Leon stood there a moment longer before saying, "Just be careful and hurry back Aerith."

"Don't worry I will." Aerith said as she turned and headed back down the stairs.

Leon turned away and began to walk after Riku who was about twenty steps ahead of him. However, the farther up the stairs he went the more a feeling of dread began to build up inside of him. He couldn't explain it but he just got the feeling the letting Aerith go by herself was a bad idea.

Finally Leon made up his mind and shouted up to Riku "Hey Riku!"

"Yeah Leon, what is it?" The platinum haired boy asked turning to face the Gunblade wielder a few steps below him.

"I'm gonna go give Aerith a hand I just don't think she could carry all those snacks by herself. Tell the others we should be up there in a minute." Leon requested as he began to move back down the stairs after his secret crush.

"Sure you two just hurry up." Was all Riku said before he turned back around and continued walking up to were the others were waiting.

Once he had finished talking to Riku, Leon turned back around and briskly took off after Aerith hoping that this feeling he was having was just what it was a feeling. However, something just kept nagging him in the back of his mind telling him something was wrong.

"Oh well." He thought, "I guess I'll find out in a minute." This thought did not give much comfort as he reached the bottom of the stairs and took off into the crowd of concertgoers to look for Aerith.

Aerith herself was pushing her way through the crowd of people trying to find a refreshment stand. It had dawned on her that there would be a lot of snacks to carry back and she didn't exactly know how she was going to get it all up there in one trip but she would figure it out.

Aerith had just caught site of a concession stand when she felt something slide under her skirt and squeeze her butt while a raspy voice whispered into her ear "Hey babe want to party?"

Before Aerith could reply she felt a hand go across her mouth and found herself being drug over to a dark secluded area of the Coliseum away from the large crowds. She also saw two men staring at her hungrily on either her left or right.

Once they were completely away from the crowd the man who had been dragging Aerith pushed her into the wall and stepped back to where his two compatriots where and began to look her over.

"She really is a nice piece of ass." The man commented after looking her over thoroughly " I can't wait to make her squeal."

"Hey who says you get to have her first! I'm the one that saw her I should get first pick!" One of the others, a black haired man, complained to the one who had drug Aerith."

It was then the last of the men stepped in between the other two and spoke "Just to make it fun for all of us -and to stop the bickering- how about we all just gang bang the little slut." The man suggested sagely.

"Yeah your right let's do that." The black haired man commented as he grabbed Aerith by her arms and hauled her to her feet.

While one of the others approached Aerith, reached under her skirt and slid her panties, down her creamy white thighs until they were removed completely. He and the other man began to unzip their pants, which caused Aerith to gulp and begin to panic.

Aerith opened her mouth as the two men approached her and desperately screamed out "LEON!"

Leon despite the size of the crowd was moving through them with relative ease all the while scanning the masses looking for Aerith..

While Leon was looking a voice came over the speakers and announced the concert was beginning, which caused most of the crowd to advance towards the areas that would take them to their seats.

As the halls began to clear Leon was able to hear better as the noisy people around him began to move farther and farther away.

Almost as soon as the halls were emptied Leon heard someone shrilly screaming his name and the voice was a little more than familiar "Aerith." Leon grunted as he charged off in the direction the scream had come from.

While Leon was running he could here the sound of rock music begin to play announcing that the concert had begun and through the speaker system Leon could hear the music as though he were watching the band from his seat.

_I judge by what she's wearing  
Just how many heads I'm tearing  
Off of assholes coming onto her  
(Each night seems like it's getting worse)_

Leon then saw Aerith she was on the ground leg's spread with her skirt pulled up which gave all of the men and Leon a view of Aerith's virgin pussy which had a large cluster of well trimmed mahogany hair above it. There was one man holding her by the arms while two more advanced on her probably ready to rape Aerith…Leon would make them see the folly in even thinking of attempting such a thing.

_And I wish she'd take the night off  
So I don't have to fight off  
Every asshole coming onto her  
(It happens every night she works)_

Aerith was just about to the point of breaking down in tears as the two men approached her.

"Hey babe could you spread a little wider?" One of the men asked hungrily as he stared at the spot between Aerith's open legs while he positioned himself directly in front of the spot.

Aerith at this point shut her eyes small trails of tears sliding down her face until she heard someone roar in outrage "YOU SONNUVA BITCH!"

_They'll go and ask the DJ  
To find out just what would she say  
If they all tried coming on to her  
(Don't they know it's never going to work?)  
They think they'll get inside her  
With every drink they buy her  
As they all try coming on to her  
(This time somebody's gettin' hurt)_

Aerith opened her eyes just in time to see an extremely angered Leon slam his fist into the man in front of her's head, knocking him into a nearby wall.

"Leon!" Aerith managed to shout joyfully.

Leon turned and gave her a brief smile which faded as he rounded on the other two would be rapists "Which one of you fuckers is next?" Leon demanded as he began walking towards the black haired man restraining Aerith.

_Here comes the next contestant  
Is that your hand on my girlfriend?  
Is that your hand?  
I wish you'd do it again (I'll watch you leave here limping)  
And I wish you'd do it again (I'll watch you leave here limping)  
There goes the next contestant_

The man quickly released Aerith and tried to juke to the left but was cut off by a sharp kick from Leon who was now within striking distance of the man.

The man hit the floor with a loud thump, and just laid there. Before Leon could turn around though he felt a sharp kick connect with his back, which knocked him to the ground.

_And I even fear the ladies  
They're cool but twice as crazy  
Just as bad for coming onto her  
(Don't they know it's never going to work?)  
And each time she bats an eyelash  
Somebody's grabbing her ass  
Everyone keeps coming onto her  
(This time somebody's gettin' hurt)_

Leon leapt back to his feet but was again blindsided by the man who pushed him into a wall holding him with one arm pressed to Leon's chest while he drew a switchblade looking knife and held it up so Leon could see it.

"Any last words you little fucker?" The man asked forcefully pushing his arm deeper into Leon's chest as he did.

"Yeah get off." Leon replied smartly as he brought his knee up with as much force as he could muster and nailed the knife wielding man in his chest, knocking the wind out of him, and causing him to fall back on the ground, releasing his hold on Leon and the knife.

Leon walked forward and kicked the man in the side before he charged over to wear the first thug he hit was getting up.

_Here comes the next contestant  
Is that your hand on my girlfriend?  
Is that your hand?  
I wish you'd do it again (I'll watch you leave here limping)  
And I wish you'd do it again (I'll watch you leave here limping)  
There goes the next contestant_

The man stood up and put his fists up into a fighting position while blood flowed openly from a wound on his head from where he had hit the wall.

Leon clenched his right fist and cocked it back ready to deliver the blow he hoped would take the fight out of this man. When they were both in range of the other they both struck simultaneously Leon landing a strong punch directly in the center of the man's diaphragm while his opponent grazed his side.

Leon withdrew his fist from the man's chest and stepped back from him watching as he slid down the wall and onto the floor as he lost consciousness from the force of the blow.

_I'm hating what she's wearing  
Everybody here keeps staring  
Can't wait til they get what they deserve  
This time somebody's gettin' hurt_

While all this was transpiring Aerith watched in fascination as Leon casually took down all of her assailants. It was incredible.

"_But how did Leon know to come? And what is this strange feeling I feel knowing that Leon is fighting to defend me?"_ Aerith pondered while Leon continued to demolish the three men.

It was Leon's concerned filled voice that snapped her out of her reverie "Aerith are you okay?"

_Here comes the next contestant  
Is that your hand on my girlfriend?  
Is that your hand?  
I wish you'd do it again (I'll watch you leave here limping)  
And I wish you'd do it again (I'll watch you leave here limping)  
And I wish you'd do it again (each night seems like it's getting worse)  
And I wish you'd do it again (this time somebody's gettin' hurt)  
There goes the next contestant_

Leon gently placed his arms on Aerith's shoulders as he asked her is she was all right.

She stood as still as a statue for a moment before Leon's voice snapped her out of the trance like state she was in and caused her to respond by fiercely embracing him "Oh Leon!" She cried as she buried her head into Leon's shoulder.

"It's okay Aerith." Leon said sensitively as he returned the embrace, pressing his body closer to Aerith's.

The two just sat there and enjoyed the safety and protection of the others embrace. It was definitely a good moment for Leon in terms of growing closer to Aerith but Leon was not worried about that right then. Just being there wrapped in Aerith's arms was enough for him.

Unbeknownst to either Leon or Aerith however, something was happening as they pulled each other closer. Leon's crotch was pressing against Aerith's bare pussy, the results of said contact still going unnoticed by Leon and Aerith. Leon's pants began to tighten and his 'little friend' began to bulge outward while Aerith's snatch began to grow hot and moisten.

The thing that managed to break them apart for Leon was Leon's bulge finally pushing up against Aerith's soft, moistened snatch. For Aerith it was the contact from Leon's bulge and the sudden amount of heat she felt building up around her snatch.

The two broke apart each blushing furiously and turned away from each other for a moment.

"Maybe we should get up to our seats the other's must be getting worried." Aerith suggested hurriedly trying to Leon and herself out of the situation they had gotten themselves into.

"Yeah that sounds good." Leon replied just as quickly as he lifted Aerith up off the ground trying hard but unsuccessfully not to catch a glimpse of Aerith's womanhood.

"You know come to think of it I haven't heard any other songs playing for awhile. I wonder what's going on." Aerith pondered aloud as she and Leon took off in the direction of there seats going in such a hurry they both forgot Aerith still didn't have any panties on and they left them laying on the ground with the three incapacitated thugs.

When Leon and Aerith got back to their seats they realized why no more songs had been played and the reason was not something either would have expected.

Down on the ground level where the stage was Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, and Riku were watching as Sora was up on stage was threatening a guitarist who was sporting a large blue and white looking guitar with his Keyblade.

"Oh shit." Leon exclaimed as both he and Aerith took off down the stairs as fast as they could trying to get to the ground level.

He and Aerith ran as fast as they were able until they made it down the first flight of stairs and then embarked down the second, which would take them down to the stage.

"Why do you think Sora is prepared to attack the man with the guitar?" Aerith asked Leon as they plodded down the stairs.

"I don't know but there has to be a reason. Sora wouldn't just pull out his Keyblade and start harassing people with it for no reason." Leon replied just as the cleared the last steps and arrived at the stage. When they were within earshot of there friends Leon yelled out "Sora what the hell are you doing?"

"This guy is a Nobody Leon." Sora answered never taking his eyes off the man with the guitar "I fought him three years ago when he was a member of Organization XIII."

Leon stopped and looked the man over he was blonde and had his hair done in a mullet, a was wearing a black t-shirt which like Yuffie's said Melodious Nocturne, and wore faded gray looking jeans that had large prints of the Nobody symbol in white going down the left leg.

"Take it easy Roxas it's me Demyx don't you remember?" The guitarist asked defensively while he held his 'guitar' in front of him to act as a shield should Sora attack.

"For the last time my name is not Roxas! It's Sora! Got it?" Sora shouted at the Nobody who three years previously had always gotten his name mixed up.

"He's right Demyx his name is Sora. Got it memorized?" A new voice chimed in from behind Sora.

Sora turned to see a man dressed completely in black with thick tufts of spiky red hair cascading down his back and black markings under his eyes "Axel." Sora muttered in disbelief.

It was then the situation itself got a lot more confusing as a large hole was blown into one of the Coliseum walls and droves of black, panther resembling quadrupeds bearing the Heartless symbol stormed into the concert causing people to scream and shout and a stampede for the exits to begin.

"What the hell!" Everyone seemed to shout at once.

While his Liger Heartless ran loose in the Coliseum Scar swaggered through the rubble of the wall he and his troops had decimated and loudly shouted for all to hear "Let the battle begin!"

Authors Notes: Finished at last! This one was definitely a lot longer than I thought it would be. Anyway thanks to my new reviewer for reviewing and I hope all my readers enjoyed the chapter. I'll definitely try to update soon and I apologize for the cliffhanger. So until next time

Rau Le Creuset 88


	7. The Shattered Blade

Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War

Let me just start out by saying I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. It would be pretty cool if I did but I don't so please don't sue me and now on with the story!

I only own Kiru, Rain, and the man in the Organization coat.

"Shit!" Axel cursed quietly to himself, as his two chakram appeared in his hands "I was hoping I could meet up with Sora and not have to fight anybody. Guess I should know better."

Sora pulled Freedom away from Demyx and moved so that he stood beside Axel "We have a lot to talk about Axel." Sora stated simply.

"Yes we do but now is not the time." Axel replied with Sora nodding his head in agreement.

While Sora and Axel were having their small conversation everyone else had drawn their weapons. Cloud had taken the swords from the harness on his back and assembled the First Tsurugi, Leon had drawn his Gunblade, Riku had summoned The way to Dawn, Tifa had slipped on her gloves, and Yuffie had pulled out her giant shurikan.

Amidst the confusion in the arena the group were trying to gauge the strength of the new Heartless. They resembled a panther both in body type and color however, they possessed wicked looking armor which was grafted on each of their legs, claws, back, tail, and head, the armor on the head sporting a metal horn along with the Heartless crest. To make the Heartless even more fearsome they apparently had some sort of rotating, double barrel, energy cannon turret attached to it's back armor.

It was as one of the new Heartless was about to pounce on one of the innocent concertgoers Axel decided to act. Leaping up into the air Axel hurled one of his chakram, which had suddenly become covered in golden flames, at the creature, which took it in the side. Within seconds the weapon had completely cut through the Heartless and began to fly back towards Axel who easily caught it.

Axel's strike prompted the others to spring into action as well each running to face one of the Liger's except Leon, who stayed back to guard Aerith.

Cloud flew toward's one of the Ligers', his First Tsurugi pointing towards it. Cloud was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt the blade would impale the creature and destroy it however, the Liger had a few tricks up it's cyborg 'sleeves'.

When Cloud was about three feet from the creature four little rods rose from where the Liger's legs connected with it's body and formed a semi sphere made up of purple hexagons of pure energy around the Liger.

When Cloud's sword came into contact with the shield it was immediately deflected and knocked Cloud backwards a few feet.

Cloud however, quickly regained his balance and decided to try something else "Take this!" He roared as he used his blade beam attack and fired a large stream of blue energy at the Liger's shield.

The energy splashed against the Liger's shield but seemed to have very little affect. Once the energy was completely gone the Liger turned off it's shield and leapt towards Cloud firing it's energy cannons as it ran.

"This isn't going to be an easy battle for anyone." Cloud concluded as he rushed forward to meet the Liger head on deflecting it's energy blasts as he went.

All around the Coliseum everyone was finding out how powerful the Liger's actually were. The energy shields made combating the Heartless frustratingly difficult especially for Tifa who relied solely on physical attacks to fight opponents. The Liger Heartless were also very intelligent. The ones that were fighting Sora, Riku, Tifa and Yuffie had all activated their shields and backed them into a corner only deactivating the shields once they had completely enclosed their prey.

"Shit they've got us blocked on all sides." A frustrated Tifa observed.

"She's right." Yuffie concurred as the Liger's powered up their cannons to deliver the finishing blow.

Everyone had pretty much resigned themselves to their apparent fate except Riku who had a trick up his sleeve. Precisely when the Ligers' fired Riku held out his left hand and activated his Dark Shield, which he made sure, was large enough to cover Sora, Tifa, Yuffie and himself. The energy slammed into the shield, which took all the damage of the blasts and splintered into pieces once the energy had faded. This brief distraction was all Riku needed.

Leaping into the air Riku landed on one of the Heartless' back and slammed his Keyblade straight through the Heartless' cannons and back right into it's core causing the Heartless to explode into large black particles.

"Attack them now!" Riku shouted to his cornered comrades.

"Right!" Sora shouted as he moved towards a Liger and swung the Freedom in a deadly arc, which ended in the Liger's decapitation however, Sora's attack didn't end there, for Sora had started to move incredibly fast. So fast Sora was leaving afterimages which confused the two remaining Liger's…along with Riku, Tifa, and Yuffie who watched as Sora cut both of the two remaining Heartless into mincemeat causing them to explode with a lout boom.

When Sora stopped moving he was crouched on the ground, holding Freedom out to his right as sweat dripped down his face.

"Sora how did you do that?" Tifa asked Sora as Riku, Yuffie, and her approached him.

"I…don't…know." Sora managed to reply in between labored breaths. Whatever he had done it had obviously tired him.

"Are you still able to fight?" Riku questioned as he helped his brown haired friend to his feet.

"Of course I can! What kind of question is that?" Sora said indignantly as he shrugged Riku off and charged off with Freedom to find another Liger to battle.

"Thought so." Riku smiled as he charged off after his friend with Tifa and Yuffie in tow back into the fray.

As for Leon out of everyone else was probably having the greatest amount of difficulty. Having to defend Aerith and himself was challenge enough but when facing an opponent like the Liger Heartless the difficulty only multiplied.

Leon grunted as he deflected another volley of energy bursts with his Gunblade while batting away a Liger in one motion. However, while Leon wasn't looking one of the Heartless pounced and manage to slash Leon's left arm with it's steel claws causing blood to gush from the wound all over Leon's arm.

"Leon are you alright?" Aerith shouted reaching out to touch Leon's arm when Leon barked back a response.

"I'm fine Aerith. Just stand back and let me take care of this guy." Leon commanded but turned and gave Aerith a brief smile while he activated his Blasting Zone attack.

The Gunblade encased itself in energy and Leon lashed out at the Liger with his tremendous sword. The Liger activated it's shield just in the knick of time to intercept the attack. Energy began to crackle at the point where Leon's sword was pushing against the shield and even though the shield was being pushed inwards slightly it was still holding.

"Shit." Leon cursed at his inability to break the shield. Leon was just about to lift the sword back up when a large surge of golden flames in the shape of a Chinese dragon collided with the point where Leon's sword and the Liger's shield were clashing.

Unfortunately for the Liger that was more than enough force to shatter it's shield when combined with Leon's powerful sword. The shield cracked like an egg and Leon's blade flew down and sliced the Liger perfectly in half and before the Liger even had time to explode the flaming dragon had come through and completely incinerated what was left of it so that it couldn't even do that before exploding.

After the Liger's destruction Leon turned his head searching for the source of the dragon and saw Axel standing on the abandoned stage holding his chakram "Thanks…Axel was it?" Leon said to the redhead who jumped down off the stage and landed next to him and Aerith.

"No problem and yes it is. Sorry we weren't properly introduced earlier." Axel replied.

"Names Leon and by the way what was that attack you used?" Leon asked his curiosity over the dragon shaped flames piqued.

"That was my secret weapon, a combination of fire and light, I like to call it Divine Ragnarok. Got it memorized." Axel grinned cockily.

"Well it's very nice to meet you Axel." Aerith said sweetly speaking for the first time since Leon had addressed the redhead.

"Likewise. By the way what is your name?" Axel asked Aerith.

"Aerith Gainsborough." She replied with a heart-melting smile, which Axel could swear he could feel despite his lack of one.

"Aerith." Axel said pausing for a short period afterwards before saying, "I've got it memorized and once again It's my honor to meet you. However, you must excuse me, myself and your boyfriend have some Heartless to fight."

Aerith and Leon both prepared to explain that they were not a couple, both blushing horribly, but Axel had already turned and was blasting Heartless with fireballs.

"Well I guess I'll join him." Leon concluded after a moment before he rushed on oncoming enemy with his still energy encased Gunblade. Which left Aerith behind the two staring at Leon as he fought with a far away look in her eyes.

Meanwhile running up the stairs trying to casually make their escape were the members of Melodious Nocturne. Demyx, along with his band mate's guitarist Rob Reynolds and drummer Eric Trine, had taken advantage of the confusion suddenly caused by the Heartless attack to make their escape. All of the Liger's were distracted with Leon and company on the floor so there really was no one to hinder their escape as they took off for the nearest exit.

It was when they were approaching the door that would take them to the main hall, which led outside, that Demyx began to suffer from a pang of guilt. Demyx stopped and turned so that he could see back into the Coliseum floor slightly. Inside he could hear Sora, Axel, and those others locked in mortal combat with the Heartless.

Demyx then had a brief thought of how he had gotten out of the dark void in which he had been imprisoned. Like Axel he had been given a similar offer except Demyx had a slightly different reason for wanting redemption or at least a different means of achieving it.

Demyx wanted to unite the universe and destroy the bonds of hatred and violence that gripped the universe itself. In other words he wanted to bring universal peace.

Demyx wished to use his phenomenal musical talent to do this. He formed a band, which he named after his former title as a member of Organization XIII. Once that was accomplished Demyx was ready to make his ambitions become reality, to sing and play the song of peace.

Demyx's band quickly became popular and Rob, Eric, and himself quickly became celebrities. This trip to Endenglory was supposed to kick off the release of their new album Nothing's Whole but Nothing's Broken but for some reason fate had decided to change things up a bit.

Demyx just couldn't shake the feeling that he was mean to stay here and help. So against his _better_ judgment Demyx turned back around to speak to Rob, and Eric.

"Rob, Eric hold on for a minute there's something I've got to say." Demyx said to his two fellow musicians who both turned and looked at him like he was crazy given the situation of things.

"Can it wait Demyx?" Eric said clutching the railing on the side of the stairs as though his life depended on it "In case you haven't noticed we need to get out of here!"

"No Eric it can't." Demyx replied firmly before continuing "I know you guys are going to think I'm crazy for this but I'm going to stay and fight." Demyx began which earned him weird looks from his band mates just as he expected "I can't explain it but I've got a feeling deep down that's telling me to fight. So that's why I'm staying." Demyx finished.

"Have you completely lost your mind?" Rob shouted at his mullet headed friend "If you stay and fight you'll be killed!"

"I may not look it but I can hold my own in a fight, and besides nothing you guys can say will be able to change my mind anyway." Demyx replied nonchalantly to his two friends who were currently very unstable.

There was a brief pause after that. During which Rob and Eric looked hysterically back and forth between each other and Demyx before a very helpless sounding Rob finally asked "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes I am." Demyx replied unwaveringly in his resolve.

"Then we wish you the best of luck." Eric said as he walked up and embraced Demyx in a brotherly embrace.

"Yeah don't go dieing on us buddy." A now less panicky sounding Rob added as he too walked up and wrapped his arms around Demyx.

"Thanks guys." Was all Demyx found himself able to say. He was touched by how much he actually meant to his friends and fellow band mates. "And good luck to you guys too. I'll try and get in touch with you so we can get our tour back on track after I get out of here." Demyx said to Eric, and Rob as he broke from the embrace and began to head back down the stairs.

"You got it man!" Eric yelled after Demyx throwing him the thumbs up sign when he got his attention "Yeah, well you better hurry I want to get this tour started!" Rob added as Demyx disappeared through the exit at the bottom of the stairs smiling as he went.

Sora grunted as he deflected the Liger's claws with the broadside of Freedom. The Liger's were well rounded in all areas offensively and defensively and Sora was actually finding it very difficult to take the offensive because the Liger's superior defenses always blocked whatever he threw at it and put him back on the defensive.

"_If it just didn't have that shield!" _Sora mentally complained as he nimbly dodged two oncoming energy bolts fired from the Liger's cannons.

Sora had barely stood back up when the Liger decided to try it's next trick which even Sora was not expecting. The Liger activated it's energy shield and rushed towards Sora with blinding speed. The move caught Sora off guard and because of his hesitation Sora was knocked to the ground by the powerful shield.

"Damn it!" The Keyblade master cursed before realizing the true implications of the situation he was in.

The Liger had him pinned with it's two front paws, making Sora unable to use Freedom to fight back. This meant that the Liger could use it's powerful cyborg jaws to have it's way with Sora while he was defenseless.

Sora could feel the Liger's hot breath as it stared down at him triumph shining in it's glowing orb like eyes. Sora could see his life flashing before his eyes.

"_So this is where it ends?"_ He thought with an odd sense of calm _"I'll never see Kairi, or Riku, or any of the others ever again. Everything up till now even surviving planet fall…was all in vain." _Sora morbidly concluded. Resigning himself to his apparent fate.

As the Liger prepared to lower it's razor sharp, teeth filled, jaws to deliver the finishing blow at of nowhere a large stream of oversized bubbles slammed into the Liger causing a brief, sickening, cracking noise to be heard before the Liger was hurled off of Sora into a nearby wall where it exploded into tiny black particles. A slightly dazed Sora sat himself up and stared in shock at his rescuer.

Demyx stood holding his sitar in a firing position outside the entrance to the stairwell a confident grin spread out on his face. Sora stood up and ran over to Organization XIII's former number IX.

"You…saved me…why?" Sora asked the musician not even able to speak in a coherent sentence he was so stunned.

"Well Roxas oops I mean Sora the thing is I'm on your side now so just remember this moment the next time you feel like holding me at swordpoint Demyx." Replied somewhat jokingly before he ran off to help Tifa who was still struggling to combat the Liger's because of her lack of an actual weapon.

Soras stood unflinchingly still for a moment a dumbfounded look on his face before he replied slowly "Maybe…I will." Before he charged back into battle using the newfound agility and speed the Freedom had given him to lay waste to the Liger's.

Up in the stands unbeknownst to the combatants below a man in a black coat sat watching the conflict as he munched on a juicy green apple.

"Oh how interesting this little drama has become." He commented as he took a bite of his apple.

"You have a strange since of entertainment Xellap. It was me I'd want to be down there myself engaged in the fighting not up here watching from the pressbox." The hooded figure, identified as Xellap, heard someone comment from behind.

Xellap took another bite from his apple before he replied "I know you would Roxange but you see that is what makes you and I different I enjoy watching life's little dramas play patiently waiting for my turn to be in the spotlight. You on the other hand are impatient and wish to be involved in every little thing."

"But can you blame me? Haven't we waited long enough for our time on the stage? We waited through Maleficent and Xehanort, then Organization XIII, and now Maleficent and Sephiroth! By the time this conflict is over we may not even have a stage left to perform on!" A very frustrated Roxange argued.

"Would that be so bad really? We both know Maleficent is destined to fail the odds of her failing are just too great. However, if the others plan whose success rate is 99.9 comes to pass we may not even need to put our plan to eliminate the Keyblade masters into motion. If the Keyblade masters fall by another's hands I wouldn't complain less work for us to achieve our own goal." Xellap lectured his somewhat impatient companion.

"You make a good point just know that I'm still angry about the amount of time it has taken us to accomplish our goal." Roxange muttered.

"It will be as you say but for now just sit back and watch with me, Scar is about to make his move." Xellap said to Roxange as though the two were watching a live play being acted out on stage by actors.

"Fine." Roxange said somewhat sulkily as he sat in a seat next Xellap and looked on as the battle moved closer down the long road to it's climax.

Leon and Axel blasted slashed and burned through the numerous hordes of Liger's that attempted to attack them as well as the weaponless Aerith. The two were actually doing very well until something happened that no one was expecting.

Out of nowhere a large black colored fireball flew down and struck Axel squarely in the chest. The flame did not harm Axel as he himself was a pyro user himself however it did scorch his shirt and caused to curse as he was knocked back about ten meters.

"What the hell was that?" Axel groaned as he slowly lifted himself up off the ground.

His answer came when he saw the flame wreathed Scar leap down from his perch in the stands and land ten feet in front of Leon.

"I have some business with you Mr. Leonhart." The undead lion said politely.

"And what business would that be." Leon demanded as he gripped his Gunblade with both hands and held it out firmly in front of him.

"I have a message from Sephiroth. He says he congratulates you on getting to bed a whore like Gainsborough." Scar sneered at Leon any form of politeness leaving his voice.

Leon seemed to freeze when he heard what the lion said but then images started to flash through his mind he saw Aerith that day they went out shopping and how happy she was and then he saw Sephiroth call her all those horrible names, then he remembered how he had helped her pick out the outfit and how good she looked, then he thought about how those thugs nearly raped her and the awkward yet somehow right feeling moment they shared afterwards. However, the thing that sprung Leon into action was hearing the sound of Aerith Gainsborough beginning to cry behind him.

"You're not leaving here alive you bastard." Leon growled at Scar sounding more like a demon than a man.

Blasting Zone activated and Leon rushed Scar preparing to slice scar in half. Scar himself suddenly covered his back in black flames and out of the flames two blades made of black fire came forth on Scar's sides. After his weapons were out Scar leapt into the air and locked his right side blade with Leon's Gunblade.

After a few moments the two combatants landed back on the ground. Leon holding his Gunblade in front of him while Scar moved back into a crouching position.

"Before we continue Leonhart let just change things so we have an audience for you funeral." Scar said before he let out a loud roar which made all of the Liger Heartless back off and stop their attacks, much to the relief of everyone fighting them, and then Scar closed his eyes for a moment and then when he reopened them a ring of black flame began to encircle Leon, Aerith and himself. The flames spread out till a fourth of the Coliseum floor had been encircled and then the flames grew so large and fierce that it would be impossible for anyone to get in or get out. "Now we have a proper arena for our battle Leonhart." Scar said with a tone of satisfaction.

While Scar was speaking Sora, Riku, Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Axel, and Demyx ran up to the circle of flames.

"Leon, Aerith are you all right?" Tifa shouted through the blaze that separated them.

All she got in response was a roar from Leon as he once again charged Scar and the two locked blades.

"That bastard knocked me out of the way so he could fight Leon one on one." Axel seethed "I just wish I could get one good shot at him. I'd incinerate him!"

"That's probably not the only reason he did it. With you out of the way Leon has to worry about not only himself but Aerith as well which gives Leon's opponent a very unfair advantage." Cloud reasoned which soon everyone in the group agreed with.

"Everyone stand back I've got an idea." Demyx said to the group.

Everyone remained silent but stepped back nonetheless. None of them really knew Demyx so they didn't know what he might be willing to try but then most of them didn't know Axel and he helped Leon defend Aerith so they were at least willing to give Demyx a chance.

"All right let's rock!" Demyx shouted enthusiastically as he began to run his pick across his sitars cords and began to play a short combination of notes.

As soon as the water wielder finished playing the notes a large wall of water seemed to appear from the ground in a manner similar to how Scar's fire had. The massive wave surged forward until it collided with the wall of black flames. The two forces of nature collided and clashed causing large amounts of steam to be formed so all that could be seen were shadows and the only things that could be heard was the sound of the steam forming and of two blades clashing.

When all the steam finally filtered away the circle of black flames was still standing and somehow looked even bigger than it did before.

"Shit! I was sure that would work!" Demyx yelled stomping his foot.

"Maybe all we can do is trust Squall on this one." Yuffie said somewhat somberly as she stared through the flames at the Scar and Leon's battle.

"Yuffie's right we may not be able to help Leon but we can still support him." Riku said to the group.

"Yeah that's right good point Riku." Sora praised the platinum haired warrior.

"Yeah let's do it!" Tifa shouted jumping into the air enthusiastically.

So all it once the entire group, even Axel and Demyx who didn't even know Leon that well, shouted with all their might "Go Leon! Kick that guy's ass!"

Inside the ring of fire Leon and Scar leapt back after another clashing of their blades. So far neither had been damaged but the constant draws were starting to annoy both Leon and Scar. Someone after all had to get hit at some point.

As Leon stood their sweat pouring down his face both from the fight and the heat of the flames he thought he could hear something from the other side of the wall of fire.

Leon strained his ears trying to listen in over the crackling flames. After a moment or so of straining Leon finally heard it clearly. It was his friends and they were saying he could win this fight and that besides defending Aerith was all the motivation Leon needed.

"All right, let's try this again!" Leon roared as he jumped into the air over Scar and prepared to bring his still Blasting Zone equipped Gunblade down on the undead lion.

"Not so fast boy!" Scar snarled as he leapt into the air to meet Leon.

When the two combatants collided they seemed to be locked together for a moment before they each landed on separate sides of the hellish arena, both breathing heavily.

After a few moments Leon fell to his knees clutching his right side where a large gash had appeared but had been closed up by the heat of the blade. The burns on Leon's skin appeared to be highly severe.

"Gothcha." Scar snickered before part of his right side blade fell from the rest of it to the ground and burned itself out. Then a large gash appeared on his right side as well however his wound was not closed and a torrent of black blood spilled forth onto the ground.

"Gotcha." Leon mocked as he stood back up both hands wrapped around the Gunblade's massive handle.

"I'm not done yet Mr. Leonhart. You'll find that I've go a few more tricks up my fur." Scar said to his opponent.

"Bring it on." Leon challenged with a confident smirk plastered on his face.

"Fine but just remember you asked for it." Scar said as he jumped twenty-five feet into the air and seemed to stop as if there was something holding him up.

Suddenly black flames began to manifest themselves all around Scar and soon he was completely enclosed in an orb of black fire.

"Now Leonhart your finished!" Scar's voice rasped from inside the sphere.

As soon as Scar finished his sentence a large stream of black flames spilled forth from the sphere heading straight for Leon.

"Oh shit!" Leon yelled as he slammed his Gunblade into the ground before him. Hoping against hope that the strengthened blade of his weapon would be enough to stop the unavoidable, maelstrom, of flames surging towards him.

When the flames finally did collide with the weapon Leon felt it. The entire blade shook and so did the ground around it however, Leon's makeshift shield seemed to be holding up. There was however, one problem and that was that the flames began to spill over the sides and before Leon knew it Leon found himself engulfed in a far less powerful but still effective stream of flames.

From his place inside the sphere Scar saw the event unfold and was pleased. _"Leonhart never stood a chance of surviving that attack it was just to powerful for him." _The lion mentally gloated _"But now I get to enjoy the pleasure of ripping that whore limb from limb in front of her friends." _Scar smiled at the idea as he dispersed the flames around him and landed on his feet twelve feet from Aerith.

Aerith looked as if she was about to cry. This monster had killed Leon. The one who had saved her life on multiple occasions and been there for her when Zack was killed and all the other hard times and now like Zack, Leon was gone to.

"Leon." Aerith stuttered out as she fell to her knees tears streaming down her beautiful face and pooling up on the ground.

"Get up little whore it's time to die." Scar taunted as he sauntered towards the weeping woman.

Aerith looked up at Scar with tears still running down her face. Was she going to die as well? If she did at least she would be reunited with Zack and…Leon. She said the name Leon over and over in her mind tenderly and lovingly, as though it were some fragile object that would break if not treated carefully.

Scar was preparing to pounce his prey in his sight when someone yelled out across the arena "Stay away from her you sunnova bitch!"

Scar and Aerith both turned their heads towards the direction the voice had come from and much to their amazement Leon walked out from behind his Gunblade. A large number of burns decorated his body and his clothes were singed and burned but besides all that he was all right.

"Leon your all right!" Aerith shouted at the Gunblade wielder replacing her tears with a smile, which in turn got her a smile from Leon.

"It'll take a lot more than that to take me done Aerith you should know that." Leon lectured jokingly as he slid out of his ruined jacket and threw it to the side.

"I don't know how you survived Leonhart but I won't let that mistake happen a second time!" Scar declared as he turned away from Aerith.

"I look forward to watching you try." Leon taunted as he pulled his energy encased Gunblade up from the ground and brought it up into a fighting position.

Both combatants stood deathly still staring at each other for a few moments which seemed to last an eternity before they both charged toward the other each roaring out the word "DIE!"

The two flew past each other not even seeming to cause any damage as they each ended up on different sides of the ring once again.

After a few seconds of standing in silence Scar began to cough up some of his opaque blood and a large portion of his right shoulder seemed to slide off cleanly. Scar slumped over slightly as blood sprayed all over the floor from the wound making large puddles of the dark liquid all around the lion.

Leon smiled in satisfaction as he looked at the injured lion "Ready to give up?" He sneered at his fallen opponent.

"Not when I've still got one option left." Scar shot back at Leon.

"And what option would that be?" Leon asked suddenly becoming suspicious of his downed opponent because he knew people got desperate when backed into a corner and Scar was most definitely backed into a corner.

"Well it's actually really simple Leonhart." Scar sneered "I'll attack your whore!" Scar roared at the man as he lunged towards Aerith, his left side blade in a position where it could easily decapitate her upon contact.

Leon almost instantaneously dove towards Aerith. The advantage Leon had over Scar was that Leon was closer to Aerith than Scar was. Exactly when Scar came into striking distance of Aerith Leon was between them. Reacting quickly knowing he only had a second to pull the move off or Aerith would be dead Leon swung his Gunblade with all his might batting Scar away with the broadside of the energy encased sword.

Leon hit the ground hard but Scar hit it harder even going so far as to cause large cracks to appear in the concrete floor.

"Ahhhh!" Scar moaned his entire body seemed to wracked in pain and he most certainly had broken a few bones.

"I was considering letting you live but after that last stunt you tried to pull you're not worthy of the mercy I was thinking of giving." Leon said as he got back on his feet the energy around his Gunblade finally dispersing that it was back in it's regular form.

"I don't want your pity." Scar said as he violently began to spit up blood "Bet you feel pretty good right now don't you Mister Leonhart and knowing my luck I'll probably be forced to watch you ride that whore for your victory celebration all the way from Hell." Scar added before he began to spit up even more blood.

"Just to make you suffer for calling Aerith a whore I'll kill you slowly." Leon stated, sounding very intimidating as he began walking towards Scar who was also beginning to stand.

"I've got one last trick up my sleeve Leonhart do you know what it is?" Scar asked as he defiantly stood his ground against Leon.

"What are you up to now?" Leon asked as he halted his advance on his critically injured but still standing adversary.

"THIS!" Scar roared with all the lungpower he could muster. As soon as Scar screamed that word a medium sized fireball flew out of the sky and slammed into Leon's chest burning through his t-shirt as well as burning his chest. The force of the blow also knocked Leon all the way back into Aerith causing them both to be knocked onto the concrete floor.

"Leon are you all right?" Aerith asked concern written all over her face as she gingerly touched Leon's newest burn.

Leon winced causing Aerith to withdraw her hand but Leon still smiled and answered with I'm okay.

Scar began to cackle maniacally believing victory to be within his grasp "Now I'll kill you both!" Scar leapt forward fangs, claws, and flame blades ready to burn and tear the pair to shreds.

For Leon who was sprawled out in Aerith's lap time seemed to slow down just like that time in the market. _"He wants to kill Aerith."_ Leon obviously concluded not even including himself with her. _"But I've vowed to protect Aerith with my secret love for her."_ Leon reminded himself. _"Therefore for me to keep that promise…this creature will die!"_

Despite the immense pain it caused him Leon managed to stand on both of his legs and held hold his Gunblade back over his head. Several things then began to happen the first of which being Leon's eyes going completely clear and serene looking the next thing was and almost searing and stinging red energy began to form around the blade of Leon's Gunblade.

Aerith's eyes widened in shock _"It's just like that time before when we were at the market. That awesome power that Leon unleashed." _All Aerith could do from that point was watch as energy built up around the Gunblade waiting to be unleashed in its true form.

By this point what looked like crimson electricity and begun to spark and crackle around the already searing red energy that had enveloped the blade of Leon's weapon which had not happened the last time Leon used this power. The difference between then and now was that before Leon had just used his love for Aerith and desire to protect her to use the power of Roaring Lion. Now however, a new element had been mixed in and that was hatred.

The addition of the new factor was because Leon hated Scar for the things he had said to Aerith and wanted him to suffer for the psychological trauma he had put her through for calling her a whore. The union of this new element and the two other elements used in the first Roaring Lion combined to make an even stronger attack with even more devastating affects.

After the energy had been gathered Leon felt that it was time to finish Scar and so he swung the Gunblade over his head and shouted with all of his might "Burn in Hell!"

The crackling stream of love and hate given a physical form sped towards Scar who was also running towards it unable to stop his motion. The raw and untamed energy continued to flow from Leon's Gunblade quickly forming into an even larger and more powerful lion shaped blast than it had before. Leon just kept on pushing and pushing using all of his energy until hairline cracks and fissures began to form all along the blade of the Gunblade.

Leon however, was so caught up into making Scar suffer through the attack he just kept on pumping more and more energy into the attack causing the cracks and fissures to deepen and expand.

Finally the crimson, lion shaped, embodiment of Leon's love and hate collided with Scar and Scar's last words as he was incinerated alive were "At least hell can't be as hot as this." Before he was completely engulfed and even his molecules were incinerated. That though was still not the end of it.

The lion shaped blast kept going. Burning through the flaming circle it just kept going annihilating every thing in front of it and leaving a trail of molten rubble in it's wake only dispersing when it finally blasted it's way through a large portion of the coliseum revealing a large portion of the outside world to the people inside the now ruined coliseum.

Leon managed to stay conscious long enough to see this and say eight simple words "That'll teach that bastard to mess with Aerith."

As Leon fell back into Aerith's lap the stress on his Gunblade finally became to great to bear and the entire blade shattered and fell into pieces on the floor.

"Oh God!" Aerith shouted covering her mouth with her hands as the ring of flames surrounding her and Leon completely disappeared.

"Aerith are you two all right?" She heard Cloud call out to her as he and the others ran towards her and Leon's collapsed body.

When they all got close enough to see examine the two they Aerith was relatively untouched by Leon who was badly burned was clutching the handle of his destroyed Gunblade.

Before anything else could be said though the group was snapped back to reality by the sound of the numerous Liger Heartless still in the Coliseum closing in around them trying to block off any route of possible escape so that they could finish them.

"Well what do we do now?" Yuffie asked the group at large looking around at what could have been at least fifty-two Ligers.

No one said anything. It would appear that once again their only option would be to fight them all. However, as Sora looked out at the advancing creatures he began to hear a voice that only he and he alone could hear.

"_Use the Freedom."_ It said.

"_What are you talking about?"_ Sora said in his mind.

"_Think of the thing you desire most and then use the power supplied by that thought to unleash the Freedom's true potential."_ The voice answered.

Sora didn't know if he was hearing things or not be what this thing was saying was certainly worth a try. It definitely couldn't hurt anything at least. So Sora quickly thought about the thing he desired most and that was to be able to be with Kairi.

As soon as the thought popped into his head Sora could feel a pulse surge through the Freedom and Sora knew what to do.

"Here goes nuthin." Sora said aloud as he while still thinking of Kairi swung the Freedom.

What happened next surprised everyone including Sora. In the wake of the Freedom's deadly arc and orange colored crescent of energy with a dark blue lining flew forwards towards the advancing Liger's growing larger as it went until finally it connected with and annihilated Ligers causing them to pop like balloons that had been pricked by a sharp pin.

Everyone looked including Xellap and Roxange up in the stands as the beautifully colored energy faded away after cutting down the Liger's.

"That was most entertaining." Xellap remarked as he threw his finished apple to the ground.

"Indeed it was. So now one of Maleficent's pawns have fallen and in a most painful way." Roxange commented as he opened a dark portal.

"Well in any case it was a good show but we must be leaving." Xellap said stepping towards the portal.

"Yes we'll have to tell the other's about it." Roxange said as both he and his companion stepped through the portal leaving behind them a very stunned Keyblade master, a band of battle weary warriors, an emotionally confused young woman, and a now unconscious griever clutching a shattered blade.

Authors Notes: Geez I thought I'd never get this chapter done. Anyway Scar is dead and the Gunblade is broken what are they gonna do? Anyway I apologize for the late update had band camp all last week from 8 to 8 so most of my precious time was gone. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it and stay strong until the next chapter!

Rau Le Creuset 88


	8. Kindred Spirits

Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War

Let me just start out by saying I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. It would be pretty cool if I did but I don't so please don't sue me and now on with the story!

I only own Kiru, Rain, Xellap, and Roxange

Kiru did not know how long he and Rain had been riding after the Heartless but he did know that they had to be closing in on them. They were know longer in the peaceful countryside of the land near and around Shinedown but had entered a large, deep, expansive and misty, forest area near the base of a large mountain.

There were many towns and villages on the outskirts of the forest and some on the mountain as well from what Kiru and Rain observed before they entered the forest on one of the many roads that had been made through the dense wood to make travel to the mountain easier.

That had been at least two hours ago and Kiru could feel that Rain was starting to become tired and sleepy. Of course the way she would slump down against his back for a second and then bob back up a moment later was a good indicator as well.

"Don't worry Rain," Kiru started as he turned his head slightly toward the dozing girl "The next inn or rest or motel I see will stop and rest for the night." The silver haired boy finished which got a soft okay from Rain.

"Although I'd rather keep on after the bastard's that destroyed our home." Kiru silently seethed "However, Rain is not as enduring as I am so I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise. Though a little rest wouldn't exactly hurt." Kiru finally concluded positively as he slowly increased the Sleipnir's speed, which caused Rain to wrap her arms around him tighter.

After about ten more minutes of cruising down the slightly twisting dirt roads lined by tree's on each side Rain caught sight of a fairly large building on the left side of the road where a patch of the trees had been cleared out.

"Over there Kiru. Do you see it?" Rain asked the mako-eyed warrior as she pointed at the building.

"Good eye Rain." Kiru now saw the building as well and pulled over on the side of the road so that they could get a good look at the building.

The sign above the entrance to the large wooden building identified it as the Metallica Inn.

"Strange name." Rain commented, as she looked the sign over.

"Yeah but the place does look kind of cozy." Kiru added as something wet plopped down on his head.

Kiru lifted his head up to the sky and for the first time noticed that it was a dark shade of gray and very looked very overcast.

"Guess it's a good thing we found this place." Rain said her gaze looking over the darkened sky as well.

"Yeah being stuck in the rain with no shelter is not something I'd want to do." Kiru agreed while he searched for a place to shelter his bike from the inevitable downpour. His eyes finally landing on an empty shed on the buildings right side.

Kiru turned back towards Rain "Go on in Rain I'm going to park Sleipnir under that shed and I'll be right in."

"Alright Kiru see you inside." The blue haired girl said before she walked through the front door into the inn.

Kiru quickly rolled the bike over towards the shed. Once he had it inside and was sure that it would be safe from the weather he pocketed the keys and walked back over towards the inn.

Upon entering the building Kiru saw that the building was set up so that there were rooms on the first and second floor. Also from what he observed the front desk was on the right side of the entrance while on the left there was a small café/bar area.

Seeing that Rain was waiting for him at the front desk Kiru walked over and pressed down on the little bell that sat on the desk so as to attract someone to attend them.

A few seconds later a middle-aged man wearing baggy brown pants and a white shirt came to assist them "May I help you?" He inquired politely.

"Yes we'd like two rooms preferably close together if you can manage it." Kiru answered.

"Actually Kiru we could share a room. I mean I really just don't feel like being alone right now so sharing a room would be fine." Rain explained as her gray eyes locked with Kiru's mako ones.

Kiru looked at Rain intently for a moment _"Is she serious? Does it matter? Why pass up a chance like this to get closer to Rain?"_ Kiru smiled at Rain, which made her smile in turn. Kiru then turned back towards the man "Change that to one room for one night."

"All right then that will be fifty munny." The man said to Kiru as he began to fiddle around under the counter probably searching for the key to the room he was going to give to the pair.

Kiru jammed his hand down in his jean pockets searching for the munny he knew he had buried down in their somewhere. _"Damn these things are like bottomless caverns." _Kiru thought agitatedly until he finally clasped the munny with his left hand.

When Kiru extracted the currency he saw that their attendant had already found the key and was waiting patiently for Kiru to hand over the money.

Kiru handed over the money and sheepishly apologized for how long it took him to get his money out.

"No problem. Your room's number seventy-seven it's three doors down on the left." The man directed them before heading back to what he was doing before Kiru and Rain's arrival.

Kiru and Rain walked over towards the right hand side hallway and walked down the hall three doors until they arrived at room number seventy-seven just like their attendant had said.

"All right let's see how nice this room is." Rain said enthusiastically more so than she had sounded in hours.

"All right." Kiru inserted the key and turned it in the lock causing the door to open with a click.

Kiru withdrew the key and pushed open the door slightly revealing the inside of the room to him and Rain.

The room was really spacious and had a table with four chairs flanking it along with a mid-sized T.V. propped up on a stand as well as having a very small and worn looking desk in another corner. There were also the occasional generic looking picture that most inn's had hanging on their walls but what caught Kiru and Rain off guard the most was the single bed that was placed in the remaining corner of the room on the right side of the room's only window.

Kiru stood their looking dumbfounded for a moment "Damn I forgot to tell him we wanted two beds." Kiru turned around and began to head for the door "I'll go see if we can get changed over to a room with two bed's Rain." Kiru said when he felt Rain' soft hands grab his right arm.

"You don't have to do that we can share the bed." Rain said nonchalantly "Just as long as you don't get any ideas or try and do anything." She added her facial features shifting into a sly grin.

At that point several ideas did pass through Kiru's head but he quickly shook them off "If you say so Rain."

"Well I'm going to go try the bed out for a little while Kiru" The blue haired girl said walking towards the bed.

"All right. I'm going to go to that little café in the lobby and get a drink." Kiru informed the retreating Rain.

"That's fine." Rain said as she plopped down on the bed.

With that Kiru walked out the door and closed it before heading down the hall to the lobby. Upon entering the lobby he proceeded over towards the café and saw that it was surprisingly empty except for two men sitting at the bar area of the café drinking and another man, wearing a long and tattered looking red cape that obscured most of his body, who was drinking tea by the window, gazing out at the rain.

Kiru walked over towards the bar where a pretty young blonde woman was already waiting to serve him

"What would you like?" The blonde asked.

Kiru thought about it for a moment before replying "Some tea please."

"Coming right up." The blonde went away for a minute and then came back with a cup of tea "That'll be three munny hun."

Kiru exchanged the money for the tea and left the bar area looking for a place to sit in the actual café itself. He really wanted a seat by a window so he could watch the rain fall while he drunk his tea but the only window seat in the café was occupied by the man in the red cloak.

"_Maybe he want mind sharing his table." _Kiru casually approached the man he had long and unruly raven colored hair that fell over his back and shoulders and was only kept from his eyes by a crimson colored bandanna. "Excuse me sir," Kiru addressed the man politely to get his attention "but would you mind sharing your table with me?"

Kiru's question caused the raven-haired man to raise his crimson eyes at Kiru. After looking him over the man finally replied, with a simple response of "If you wish."

Kiru promptly sat down opposite of the man while he gave a gracious thank you. Kiru then began to sip on his tea and observe the Rain just as he had intended to do.

As Kiru observed the rain the man sitting across from him finally spoke and the sudden question he asked blindsided him for a moment "So what brings you to this place?"

"Uh…well me and the girl that was with me…uh Rain that is…we are looking for someone." He finally managed to hurriedly stammer out.

"I see." He replied sipping more tea from his cup before asking another question "So are you and that girl Rain a couple?" He asked looking intently at Kiru.

Kiru wasn't sure what it was about this man but Kiru felt completely relaxed around him and despite the fact that he had only just now spoken to the man not but a minute ago and didn't even know his name he felt he could openly talk with him about the subject.

"No were just friends but I wish we were." Kiru replied with a dreamy look on his face.

"Ah so I take it you two are really good friends and you apparently wish for it to become more." The cloaked man deduced.

"Yeah." Kiru said turning away slightly the man had read him like a book "It's just her and another friend of mine named Andrew" Kiru stopped momentarily remembering that Andrew was now dead before he picked back up "Well they took me into their home and became my friends and her personality. She's just so bright, positive, funny and she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Kiru confessed.

The man whose name Kiru still didn't know just nodded his head in understanding.

"Have you ever felt that way about someone?" Kiru asked the crimson-eyed man.

The man seemed to freeze for a moment. Thoughts and images of a woman with beautiful blue eyes, wearing a white lab coat, with long brown hair tied back so that it fell down past her butt.

The man quickly dispersed the images from his mind "Yes a long time ago." He answered somberly.

Judging from the way the man responded Kiru guessed he had hit a sore subject and decided to dig any farther into that story instead changing the subject "Anyway she makes me feel like I have a future and she's trying to help me find out more about my past."

This intrigued the cloaked man "What do you mean when you say discover more about your past?"

Kiru seemed to pause for a moment but he had already disclosed his feelings for Rain to the stranger so telling him of his situation probably couldn't do too much harm. So Kiru told the man everything since he had awoken on the hill overlooking Shinedown.

Once Kiru finished the man spoke up "That is quite a story. So as you were saying the only clues you have to your memory as the flashes in your mind of these men, Cloud and Sephiroth." He asked making sure he had all the facts straight.

"Pretty much." Kiru responded sounding slightly depressed "Although my last flash was in first person and I seemed to be fighting the blonde man, Cloud, but I couldn't speak and I could hear Cloud and Sephiroth talking as we fought even though Sephiroth wasn't there."

"Interesting." The red-cloaked man finally concluded after reviewing everything Kiru had told him.

Several moments of near oppressing silence followed until Kiru spoke up "So tell me where are you heading? We've been talking about me since we started talking and I don't even know your name yet come to think of it."

"I'm searching for someone." The answer came softly so softly that it was almost inaudible "I'm searching for the person that ruined my life and stole the only thing in it that I loved." He spoke just as softly as before however, now there was a definite edge to that softness an edge tempered by anger and hate.

"Care to elaborate on that any further friend?"

"Suffice it to say this individual stole the only thing in my dark existence that gave me light and for that he will pay."

Kiru merely nodded he completely understood in a sense why this man would want to do such a thing. He himself was attempting to find the Heartless and their leader who destroyed his home and killed his friend Andrew in cold blood. However, in Kiru's opinion, there was more to this story than this man was telling, something darker and more sinister than what was on the surface.

But seeing as how the subject of why he was searching for this individual brought out a restrained rage contained deep within the man, Kiru decided not to delve any further into the matter and let it rest.

A long but comfortable silence followed after that as the two men drank their respective cups of tea and watched the rain pour down from the sky above down to the grateful earth from the window. Neither man could describe it but they seemed to feel a connection between themselves a kindredship would've been the term to most accurately describe it.

They felt like they could very easily relate to one another.

Finally the cloaked man stood up, his cup completely drained of liquid. "It has been a pleasure conversing with you Kiru but I'm afraid I must to make my leave."

Kiru looked away from the window and up at his newfound acquaintance and possible friend "I understand but what about the rain you'll get soaked if you leave right now."

The man grimaced for a moment before replying "I learned a long time ago not to let the small things in life like rain bother me and to instead enjoy them. So don't worry about me." He assured Kiru.

Kiru still looked as though he wasn't completely sold on the idea and appeared concerned for a moment but after a moment the look vanished and Kiru stood up and shook the man's hand "Hopefully our paths will cross again one day…no I'm sure they will."

"I'll be looking forward to it." The man smiled as he replied in his low, soft voice.

The two finally broke off the handshake and Kiru watched as the man turned his back on him and began to walk away while he himself sat back down to finish his tea.

It was as Kiru was easing himself back into his chair that he realized he had not asked the man for his name. Kiru quickly stood back up from his chair and turned to call after the man but when he turned around the man was already gone.

Seeing that founding out the man's name was now impossible Kiru sat back down and decided to look back out at the rain as he finished his tea. After about three more minutes Kiru finished his tea and stood up from the table preparing to go back to his room.

It was starting to get dark outside and Kiru was very tired due to the day's events and just wanted to crawl into bed and rest.

Kiru arrived back at his and Rain's room and opened the door quietly just so that he would not wake Rain just in case she was asleep. He walked through the door and quietly shut the before turning around and walking over to where the bed was. What Kiru saw definitely reenergized him to some extent.

Rain was laying on the bed still wearing her green blouse however, her pants had been discarded by the side of the bed so that she laid there in a pair of light blue panties that fit and accentuated her in all the right places. The fact she was laying with her legs wide open along with a tiny crease going down the middle of the crotch of the panties really didn't help Kiru much other in terms of maintaining self control either.

"_Why is it I always seem to find myself in these situations."_ Kiru pondered while releasing an exasperated, and desperate sigh.

So Kiru did the only thing he knew to do he slid off his jacket and jeans, hanging and folding them over the desk chair, and slid off his boots so that he stood in his black t-shirt and a pair of boxers.

"_Here goes nothing."_ Kiru thought as he took the plunge and walked over to the bed and carefully slid Rain under the covers careful not to wake her and then with even more care slid himself under the covers beside her and then laid his head on a pillow. Kiru had to hand it to himself things had gone pretty smoothly and he hadn't made a complete fool out of himself to boot.

"Now to get some sleep." Kiru quietly mumbled as he adjusted his body to it's preferred sleeping position and prepared for his tiredness to finally overtake him.

"Kiru." He heard Rain's melodic voice groggily mumble from behind him.

What happened next caught Kiru completely off guard. Rain wrapped her arms around his body and snuggled up against him her warm body pressed against his and her equally warm breath tickling his skin.

Kiru knew she was asleep but that didn't matter. Kiru didn't know how things were going to turn out. If they would found out the secrets of his past or catch Andrew's murders but right now all Kiru knew was that this was the happiest he had ever felt since waking up above Shinedown and right now that was good enough for him.

Authors Notes: Finally done at last! To my readers I'm sorry for the long wait and lack of action in this chapter. I've had a menagerie of things keeping me from working on it but it is done and next chapter there will be action so until then be patient and wait for me!

Rau Le Creuset 88


	9. The Gunslinger and the Demon

Kingdom Hearts: Chapel of War

Let me just start out by saying I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. It would be pretty cool if I did but I don't so please don't sue me.

I only own Kiru, Rain, Andrew, Roxange and Xellap.

It was early when Kiru awoke. So early in fact that it was still dark outside. The cause of Kiru exiting his blissful dream world was a combination of two things one being a sense of urgency like something was wrong and the other being Kiru's face connecting with something soft and warm while shifting in his sleep.

Upon opening his eyes he saw a field of light blue with a small crease going down the middle and emerging from the sides of it were a pair of creamy white legs.

Kiru's face immediately turned crimson _"How did Rain's butt get in my face?"_ Kiru pondered as his face continued to redden.

Kiru tried to slide away from Rain but was foiled when Rain turned in her sleep and repositioned herself so that she had snuggled her chest up against Kiru's face. Kiru in reaction to this had turned to a burgundy color in the face.

"_How did her pressing her boobs into my face not wake her up!? More importantly why am I complaining?"_ Kiru noted after his face began to lose some of it's red tint.

So ignoring his previous sense of urgency Kiru snuggled into Rain's warm and inviting chest and drifted back off to sleep and from there back into the blissful dream world from which he had come.

Meanwhile out in the still darkened forest, several miles away from the Metallica Inn, Pete and his troop of Heartless had halted their movements so that Pete could rest and at the same time call and report to his superiors. Much to Pete's dismay however, the superior he was reporting to was Sephiroth and Pete didn't even like being around the enigmatic warrior much less have a conversation with him over the phone.

"So you've only destroyed one measly town Pete? Even I thought an incompetent bungler like you would've been able to wreak a little bit more havoc than that especially with the number and type of Heartless we gave you." The winged warrior coldly stated to the cowardly one a small smile spreading over his face which Pete could not see over the other end of the phone "But it would seemed I misjudged you Pete and you're an even bigger fool than I thought you were."

"Bu…But…Sephiroth…I…I mean I…-" Pete stuttered before being cut off.

"No excuse you buffoon. Maleficent, Hades and myself ask you to go around and destroy a few towns and cities but in all this time you've only destroyed one and by the way did you know that Scar fell in battle?" Berated the silver haired man before asking his question "Well did you?"

"No sir!" The former captain of the Disney Castle guard spat out hurriedly "I had know idea."

"I thought as much. He fell in battle against Leonhart and his little gang and not only did we lose him but we lost a large number of our new Liger Heartless as well." Sephiroth explained.

Pete remained silent for a moment not really knowing what to say until Sephiroth abusively addressed him "Are you still their fool? I'm not done speaking with you yet."

Pete suddenly began to feel his blood boil. He would readily admit that he was frightened of the silver haired, Masamune wielder, but that didn't mean that his insults didn't anger him.

"Pete you idiot answer me I've got new orders for you!"

"Yes sir." Pete seethed through clenched teeth; anger barely in check "What would you have me do?"

"I want you to travel Gevalleen with your Heartless troops. I'm going to meet you there with my Abbadon Heartless and several squadrons of the new Liger types. Gevalleen is the location of a major RGDC base as well as being one of the biggest sources of commerce and trade for Endenglory." Sephiroth dictated to the former guard captain.

"Gevalleen yeah say." Pete muttered to himself more than anyone "Ain't that the big city situated in the middle of the biggest lake in Radiant Garden?"

"Indeed it is. The lake goes on for miles, so much so that Gevalleen has eight massive stone bridges connecting the city itself to the lakeshore which is itself dotted with countless numbers of fishing villages." Sephiroth paused for a moment before continuing "The lake itself is even deeper than it is big, stretching downward for who knows how many miles, this makes it ideal for another little surprise I intend on bringing with me when we rendezvous there." Sephiroth finished before explaining what exactly his 'little surprise' was.

"Is that all then sir?" Pete gingerly asked his superior his restrained anger beginning to quail.

"Yes Pete you may go." Sephiroth said, ending the call before Pete even had the chance to finger the button.

Pete stood there for a moment trying to further quail the anger he had been suppressing for half of the phone call but soon found his self control so eroded that he finally did explode "That mono winged bastard!" Pete cried out as he turned around and slammed his fist into the trunk of a nearby tree, managing to crack it slightly "I hate him!"

Pete stepped back and began to rant and rave all around the grove he and his Heartless had stopped in, occasionally shout coherent curses but mostly just incoherent babble.

After several minutes of venting his suppressed anger and hatred for Sephiroth, Pete finally managed to reign his temper back in and stopped where he stood breathing heavily from all the actions, and curses his body had made him do and say in order to vent himself.

"That bastard…I'll show him…him and Maleficent, and Hades…I'll show them all! And I'll do it with this!" Pete boldly declared in between pants as he fiddled around in one of his form fitting body suits massive side pockets. Pete grabbed around in the compartment for a few seconds before his large hand finally latched onto the object he sought. He then dramatically pulled a cerulean colored orb from his pocket and proclaimed "And I'll use this to show them!"

Pete then pulled a chain out of the same pocket from which he extracted the cerulean orb and clipped the orb the chain before securing the chain around his bulging, black furred neck.

After his pendant was secured Pete turned to face his Heartless soldiers "All right everyone get up! We're moving out so get your ass' moving!" Pete barked.

The Heartless immediately obeyed their master's command and began to follow him as Pete began their march to the lake city of Gevalleen.

For the second time that morning awakened from his slumber, but this time he shot up in the bed and his body was drenched in the bed. What he had seen in his dream had promptly caused him to awaken even faster than when he felt that sense of urgency earlier that morning.

Kiru panted heavily as he thought about what he had seen in his dream. He had been talking over the phone with a very gruff voiced person, who he had called Pete, who seemed to be very nervous talking with him. They were discussing attacking a city on a lake…Gevalleen Kiru thought they had called it. But the two things that stuck out to Kiru the most were that he chastised this Pete person about destroying one town and that Pete had called him Sephiroth.

"That was no dream." Kiru concluded heavily "And if I'm right this Pete person is the one responsible for destroying Shinedown." Kiru stopped speaking for a moment his mako eyes narrowing into slits before saying coldly "And for that Pete will die."

Kiru hurled the covers off of himself and incidentally, Rain at the same time, and walked over to the desk chair where the rest of his clothes were. He quickly slid on his black jeans and boots and as he was sliding his coat on Rain awoke shivering from the sudden coolness around her naked thighs, legs and scantily clad lower body.

"Kiru what's going on?" The blue haired girl asked still sounding dazed from sleeping

"Were leaving." Kiru answered quickly and sharply.

Rain's eyes seemed to come alive as the intensity of how Kiru spoke got her attention "Why what's happening?"

"I know where that bastard is or at least where he's going." Kiru said to himself more than Rain, then as an afterthought elaborated further "The one who is controlling the Heartless that killed Andrew."

Rain's eyes widened suddenly "But how? How do you know?"

Kiru paused briefly body trembling with anger he soon hoped he could release "I saw it in a flash. I was dreaming when suddenly things started to sharpen and focus like I was really standing in a real place and I was talking to the man who did it. According to the flash he's going to Gevalleen so we're going to cut him off on his way there." Kiru chose to leave out the part about Pete referring to him as Sephiroth thinking that it wasn't necessarily vital to the current situation and could be talked about later.

Rain merely nodded her head in understanding and began to quickly slide her jeans and shoes on so she and Kiru could depart.

Once Rain was dressed she followed Kiru out the door of the room and locked it behind them. Then scurried after her silver haired friend as he made his way towards the front desk where she saw the middle-aged man leaning back in a chair, reading a magazine.

Kiru walked up to the desk and slammed his hand down on the counter to get the mans attention but instead startled the man so bad he slipped from the chair and fell to the tile floor his head roughly banged against it.

Much to Kiru's annoyance and need to hurry the man took a few moments to rise back up and while rubbing the now throbbing part of his head asked very dazedly "Can I help you sir?"

"In which direction is Gevalleen!?" Kiru spat the question out loudly and hurriedly not caring about how rude he was being to the man who had just bumped his head because of him.

The man scratched his chin to emphasize that he was thinking and after what seemed like years to Kiru, finally answered saying that he would have to keep going north a little ways but he would eventually get there if he just kept going that way.

"Thanks." The Keyblade wielder said swiftly as he began to walk towards the door of the Inn and signaled for Rain to follow.

Rain quickly apologized to middle aged man for Kiru's abruptness before following Kiru himself out into the damp, moist, early morning air.

Kiru was walking towards the shed where he had Sleipnir and upon walking in wasn't surprised to see his bike sitting right where he and Rain had left it.

Kiru produced the bikes keys right when Rain walked into the shed a slightly angered look on her beautiful, pale, face "You didn't need to be so rude and short with that man Kiru."

Kiru turned to face Rain "We were in a hurry Rain and still are, every second counts I don't want to lose these guys." He argued his point.

"Even so that man couldn't have known and you did cause him to fall from his chair." The gray-eyed girl argued back.

Kiru turned away for a moment a frustrated look on his face, which quickly turned to one of conceded defeat as he turned back to face Rain "Your right I'm sorry…I just want to pay these guys back for what they did to our home… and Andrew."

The angry look on Rain's face seemed to rapidly morph into one of compassionate understanding as she approached the warrior and placed one of her soft gentle hands against his cheek "I know Kiru but don't worry. We know where he's headed so we can afford to slow down at least a little." She logically pointed out.

Kiru melted at her touch "Your right Rain. Vengeance was clouding my judgment and for that I'm sorry.

"It's all right Kiru, your human and that's a very human thing. But for now lets go get them!" Rain said encouragingly which in turn caused a smile to spread across Kiru's pale face.

"Yeah let's go get them." He turned and walked over to the Sleipnir and started the bike's engine while Rain slid in behind him and latched her arms around his waist.

Before Kiru took off out of the shed he heard Rain mutter quietly to herself "For Andrew."

"Yeah for Andrew." The bike thundered out of the shed and took off heading north once more.

Pete was growing tired once again. This long trek north through forests, across rivers, and over hillocks was starting to take it's toll on the big tubby dog. The Heartless as always remained indifferent and never seemed to stop but Pete soon found himself stopping dead in his tracks at a point where the forest was split in half by a large creek that ran through the middle. On each side of the creek were large areas of rock, gravel, and stones and a fairly large stone bridge ran over the creek in favor of the usually narrow, twisty, and treacherous road.

"All right guys stop for a second." Pete ordered the Heartless while he dropped down onto the hard rocky ground and started to catch his breath.

The Cannon Guns, Gargoyle Knights, Gargoyle Warriors, Armored Knights, and Luna Bandits movements ground to a halt while Pete's remaining Hook Bats just fluttered around in the air.

Pete sat there in silence for several minutes breathing heavily and mentally grumbling to himself _"That's what I hate about the Heartless the most the damn things just don't talk. It's so quite and ya never have anyone to talk to."_

After voicing his silent complaints and heavily breathing for a few more minutes Pete slowly began to rise back up to his feet slightly blinded by the light of the rising sun reflecting off the creek but that's when he heard it.

That's when he heard the screech of rubber against stone, an explosion, and the cry of one of the worst possible people he could have made into and enemy.

"ARE YOU READY TO DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Rain was the one that noticed the group by the creek. Kiru and her were still a little ways away from the creek but the trees were starting to thin out so they could see between the large gaps in the normally well packed trees.

"Kiru look over there by the creek!" She cried pointing her finger towards the large gathering of Heartless.

Kiru glanced over to where Rain was pointing and saw the Heartless and confirmed they were of the same type that attacked Shinedown and also noted the big flamboyantly dressed dog in the middle of them.

"That one in the middle must be the leader so he's the one responsible for what happened to Andrew and Shinedown!" Kiru angrily concluded, "Hang on Rain. Were gonna jump the side of that bridge up there." Kiru warned while gesturing to the bridge with his head.

"Okay Kiru." Rain squeezed his waist tighter and buried her face into his back.

Kiru gunned it towards the bridge and opened Sleipnir's left hand side compartment and pulled out Redeemed Demon. _"I've got to be out of my mind."_ Kiru mentally concluded as they arrived at the bridge. _"Here goes nothing."_ Kiru turned Sleipnir towards the right hand side of the bridge causing the friction produced between the tires and the stones to produce a loud screeching noise while also leaving black tire marks across over the stones.

Kiru focused and a large ball of white energy began to build around the tip of Redeemed Demon. Once the energy was built up Kiru released it and the explosion caused by the energy propelled the bike over the side of the bridge.

Kiru could feel Rain's hold tighten around him and normally this kind of closeness would bring him nothing but pleasure but now was not one of those times. This was a time for vengeance and it's dark light shown in Kiru's eyes.

"ARE YOU READY TO DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Kiru roared, a grim look of satisfaction on his face as he aimed Redeemed Demon right at Pete's head and charged up another alabaster orb "BULLET!"

The charged energy hurtled towards Pete but was intercepted by a Gargoyle Warrior, which shattered to pieces upon contact much to Kiru's dissatisfaction.

Kiru managed to land Sleipnir on the same side of the creek as Pete and the Heartless and after affirming there was no damage done to Rain, Sleipnir, or himself sped towards Pete and the Heartless kicking up gravel behind Sleipnir as he went.

To begin his assault Kiru rammed a Luna Bandit, which slid under Sleipnir and was crushed beneath the bike's massive tires, giving Kiru a feeling of grim satisfaction.

Next Kiru rode through a cluster of Armored Knights and cut three down at once with a swing of Redeemed Demon. One Armored Knight Jumped into the air in front of the bike and prepared to slice it's rider down the middle with it's sword. Kiru however, lifted his Keyblade up at the Heartless and fired a Bullet spell, which promptly obliterated the offending Armored Knight.

By this time though the Heartless had managed to line up some of their cannon guns into firing positions. However, the slow firing rate of the Heartless accompanied by the incredible speed of Sleipnir gave Kiru the edge he needed to avoid the relatively weak Heartless' attacks. After dodging the initial volley he aimed his Keyblade at a Cannon Gun and fired causing the Heartless to explode and release the Heart within.

Then boldly followed the shot up by ramming three of them with Sleipnir, effectively destroying the puny group of Heartless. He then turned the bike around and rode through the shallow creek water to the creek's opposite side.

"Rain from here on out I'm fighting on foot. If anything comes near you I want you to either ride off on Sleipnir or ram them with it. Can you do that?" Kiru asked the blue haired girl clinging to his midsection.

Rain released her grip on him and nodded her head to confirm that she understood.

Kiru dismounted Sleipnir and held his open handed right arm out to the side and concentrated on summoning Fallen Angel. Within less than a second the strange looking black Keyblade appeared in it's owners hands a dark light shining around it for a moment before fading away.

"Those are Keyblades!" Kiru could hear Pete shout from across the river "Kill him!"

"I don't think so." The Keyblade wielder muttered snidely to himself as he did a front flip into the creek and charged forward towards two Luna Bandits, both of which were promptly cut in half by Kiru's two razor sharp Keyblades.

He then felt the presence of something behind him and turned to find himself face to face with a Gargoyle Knight. Completely on impulse the young thrust forward with Redeemed Demon directly into the stone Heartless' chest causing it to shatter in a shower of rubble.

Kiru then back flipped away from the dark creatures just to get a better look at how many Heartless he was exactly facing. What he saw didn't please him.

There were still a lot of Cannon Guns, easily over ninety; the gargoyle type Heartless' numbers were dwindling, there were still over thirty Luna Bandits, and there were a good few many Hook Bats as well.

"_Great."_ Kiru exercised his sarcasm _"Looks like it's time to try out a new trick!" _Kiru held Fallen Angel out to his side at a forty-degree angle and shouted out fallen fire!

Fallen Angel's blade erupted in black flames and started to emit a barely visible dark purple aura.

Across the creek Rain's face was stricken with shock "When did he learn to do that!?" She squeaked through her hands, which were now over her mouth.

Back across the river Kiru face lit up with a dark smile "Try this on for size!" He held both Keyblades out in front of him and while alabaster energy collected at the tip of Redeemed Demon the flames around Fallen Angel's blade continued to grow bigger until finally Kiru released the energies built up by his Keyblades. The usual white orb flew out at some unlucky Heartless from Redeemed Demon but from Fallen Angel a torrent of black flames was released and incinerated all the Heartless near the front of the assembled horde as Kiru moved the seemingly never ending stream across them like a flame spitting fire hose.

By the time Kiru stopped the attack the only enemies left were seven Hook Bats, twelve Luna Bandits, seventy five Cannon Guns, forty eight Armored Knights, two Gargoyle Knights, no Gargoyle Warriors, and Pete.

Kiru collapsed to his knees using his two Keyblades to keep him from completely collapsing, fatigue evident on his face. The attack he used could only be sustained so long as he continued to pour energy in to it.

"Upon further reflection" Kiru started, his face spreading into a sheepish grin "that might not have been such a good idea. A good bit of the actual fighting Heartless are gone but there are still way to many of those bombardment ones are still in tact." He analyzed looking over the decimated Heartless forces.

His attention was soon garnered elsewhere as he heard Rain yell from across the creek "Kiru are you all right!?"

"Yeah Rain…I'm fine!" He managed to labouredly yell back to her as he moved to his feet "Just a little tired from that last attack that's all." Once he was firmly back on his feet Kiru took a moment to lock eyes with Pete "But that doesn't mean I'm about to give up!" Suddenly the flames that surrounded Fallen Angel roared back to life in a blaze of their dark glory. Kiru then drew his weapons into a fighting stance and charged into the remaining Heartless. All the while hoping to get closer to their master.

Pete couldn't believe his eyes. All of those Heartless completely vaporized by that one guy. Even the other Keyblade master, Sora had never demonstrated power like that before, at least, not in front of Pete.

"But he's not like Sora at all. He's wielding two of the damn things at once and isn't even in a drive form. Who is this guy?" Pete asked himself as he saw the silver haired, black clad, Keyblade wielder stand back up and charge towards his remaining Heartless and himself. "In any case I've got to capture or kill him no doubt about that. The last thing we need is another Keyblade wielder running around and maybe I can even retrieve his Keyblades and present them to Maleficent." Pete could only imagine how he would be rewarded for bringing in not just one but two of those things.

It was at that particular moment that Pete saw his opportunity to subdue Kiru as he was cutting down Pete's Heartless.

"Game over kid." He chuckled as he held out his hands and began to circulate energy between them.

Kiru was cutting through the Heartless with absurd ease. He diced through the two remaining Gargoyle Heartless cutting through them in a zigzagging arc with Fallen Angel. As the two gargoyles exploded into piles of rubble Kiru cut a Luna Bandit in half, diagonally across the chest with the tri-bladed Redeemed Demon and finished the deadly string of attacks by cutting another into quarters with both of his Keyblades.

Kiru landed on his right foot and left knee breathing heavily, his two Keyblades crossed in front of him so they resembled an x. Kiru really didn't know how much longer he would be able to keep this up. But one thing was for sure at the rate he was going it wouldn't be long.

"DARK SHACKLES!" Kiru heard Pete's gruff voice shout out.

The next thing Kiru knew he was knocked ten feet backwards and couldn't move his arms or legs. Upon recovering from the initial shock of the attack, Kiru saw that his arms and legs were now bound back crackling black energy, which vaguely resembled shackles.

"Looks like I gotcha now boy. So let's get a good look at cha." Pete boasted as he swaggered over two his ensnared foe.

"Hang on Kiru I'm coming!" Rain shouted as she started to move Sleipnir over to where her fallen friend was bound.

"No Rain stop! Stay back it's to dangerous!" Kiru warned his secret crush.

"He's right girl. I've got no bone to pick with you so back off." Pete growled at the blue haired girl.

Pete then continued his advance over to Kiru and stopped when he was right over him. "Now let's take a look at you." He muttered as he picked Kiru up by his head and lifted him up towards his face so he could take in his features. What he saw shocked him. "It's you…but it can't be you." Pete said disbelievingly as he looked at Kiru's angry, glaring eyes "Those eyes, that hair, those clothes, even the way you fight. Your just like him…Just like Sephiroth!" Pete angrily slung Kiru back against the ground before turning to a Luna Bandit and barked at it "Kill him! I want his head as a souvenir!" Before turning back around to watch the grisly procession he had just ordered to occur.

Kiru looked up in horror as the Luna Bandit approached him and lifted one of it's twin red and black scimitars above his head. Kiru tried to squirm away but two more came and subdued him so he couldn't move.

Kiru closed his eyes and gritted his teeth preparing for the end and he could hear Rain yelling from across the creek for Pete to stop. But Kiru knew it would do no good.

Pete began to cackle manically as the Luna Bandit began to lower it's sword but then something happened that no one was expecting.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Three shots cracked through the air.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment. Kiru after hearing the shots and waiting a few moments for his head to be separated from his shoulders finally opened his eyes to see Pete standing as still as a statute with three holes in his forehead that were oozing blood. The Heartless that were restraining him were as still as Pete for a few moments, the one ordered to decapitate Kiru had stopped in mid swing as well, but they two had a hole in each of their heads and after a delay finally exploded in an array of dark particles.

The thing that surprised Kiru the most though was when Pete fell forward and landed on his face revealing the origin of the miraculously timed and well placed shots.

"It's you." Kiru muttered in disbelief for behind Pete was the red cloaked, raven haired man from the café and he was holding a triple barreled pistol that still had small tendrils of smoke coming from each of the barrels.

"Hey kid." Was all he said in response before he took aim with the pistol again and shot down a Hook Bat "So are you going to help me or not?"

Kiru looked down at his hands and wrists to notice that they were no longer shackled "Oh sorry." The Keyblade master apologized sheepishly as he re-summoned his weapons and leapt up to help his gunslinger ally.

Instantly wanting to get into the fry Kiru leapt in between two Luna Bandits who each brought both of their swords down on him. Kiru however, crossed his arms and block the left swords with Fallen Angel while he blocked the right ones with Redeemed Demon. After neutralizing the two attacks Kiru uncrossed his arms and rapidly spun around in a complete 360-degree movement before stopping and bringing his two Keyblades down beside his legs. The Luna Bandits were deathly still for a moment before each of their upper and lower bodies separated and exploded.

Kiru looked over and saw that the cloaked man had shot down three more Hook Bats two Armored Knights, one Luna Bandit, and was mainly focusing his attention on the Cannon Guns.

"To easy." He said confidently as he fired three bullets apiece down three Cannon Gun's cannons causing all three Heartless to explode.

The man started to reload his gun unaware of a Luna Bandit that had crept up behind him.

"Hey look out!" He heard Kiru warn.

He quickly turned around just as the Luna Bandit was bringing it's swords down for the finishing blow. The man threw the left side of his cape aside and lashed out with his arm. What Kiru and the Heartless failed to realized until it was to late, for the Heartless anyway, was that this man had a piece of all encompassing, gold, metal, armor on his left arm that extended up to the elbow and had razor sharp blades on the tips of the fingers.

The cloaked man slammed the Heartless violently into the ground causing it jerk around before exploding into nothingness "Thanks for the warning." He thanked Kiru before he turned away to finish reloading his gun.

Kiru turned his attention back to the other Heartless and re-ignited the flames on Fallen Angel "Try this on for size!" He shouted as he hurled the black Keyblade in a spinning motion towards a cluster of Cannon Guns. The practically immobile Heartless tried to escape but soon found themselves being mowed down by the makeshift boomerangs awesome might. On the weapons return trip Kiru caught it deftly with his right hand and then fired a bullet spell through another of the Cannon Guns.

He then rushed off to help the gunslinger destroy more of the artillery Heartless.

Said gunmen had just blasted two offending Hook Bats out of the air when he saw Kiru front flip over him and lock blades with one of the few remaining Luna Bandits "Thought you might appreciate a little assistance." Kiru grinned as he broke the deadlock between the Luna Bandit and himself.

"Thanks." He said monotonously as he aimed his weapon with cold precision and fired off a single shot which struck the Luna Bandit Kiru had been fighting in the neck causing it to stagger backwards before exploding.

It was right about that time that both warriors noticed that they had been surrounded by the remaining Heartless

"Damn." The cloaked man cursed, angry at his own inability to see the Heartless slowly encircling them.

Kiru had pretty much the same thoughts as he and the cloaked man found themselves back to back looking around the ring of Heartless for a way to escape.

"Looks like were stuck." Kiru commented blandly after growing tired of searching for an exit point.

"Yeah but that just means we get to make our own exit now." The gunslinger grinned darkly as he took aim at some of the Heartless with his gun.

"Right." Kiru concurred as he brought his Keyblades up in a fighting stance.

The tense scene was suddenly broken by the cry of a woman "Kiru help!"

Kiru quickly turned his attention to Rain and saw one of the three remaining Luna Bandits had left the circle and was charging towards Rain, scimitars drawn as if ready to strike the fear bound girl.

"Hang on Rain!" Kiru shouted as he took aim with Redeemed Demon and cried out "BULLET!"

The white orb blasted towards the Heartless but it was painfully apparent that even at top speed the magic attack would not reach it's target in time.

Rain who was petrified with fear couldn't even think to move the bike as the Heartless finished closing the gap between them. All she could think of doing was shutting her eyes as tight as she could.

Kiru was so intent on Rain he barely heard the three shots ring out from behind him. It was barely a second before the Heartless was stopped dead in it's tracks by the three bullets that had ripped, through it's body. The finishing touch came when the Bullet spell Kiru had fired slammed into the wounded Heartless instantly annihilating it.

Kiru was stunned for several moments but soon rediscovered his voice and shouted over to "Are you all right Rain?"

Rain suddenly opened her tightly shuteyes to find that the Heartless was gone and she was safe. After quickly giving her body a once over she replied to Kiru sounding slightly confuse "Yes I'm fine!"

After making sure Rain was safe Kiru turned towards the cloaked man. Before he could say anything though the man quietly said, "Don't mention it." And turned his attention back towards the Heartless that still had them trapped.

As if on cue the Cannon Guns started to fire their built in cannons. Heartless crest s began to appear all over the inside of the circle as the shots came down tearing small craters into the rocky ground.

Kiru and the cloaked man soon found themselves batting, slashing, swatting, deflecting and in the cloaked mans case shooting the shots away from them sometimes even managing to return a shot or to the Heartless but not enough to significantly decrease their numbers.

All Rain could do was stare in horror as the Heartless continued to fire bombardment after bombardment at Kiru and their strange new ally.

"This is getting us nowhere and will probably end up getting us killed if we don't do something different." Kiru remarked to the raven-haired man as he deflected another Heartless made shell

"Probably." The gunmen concurred, "So do you have any ideas?"

"Actually, I do. But I'll need you to cover me for it to work." Kiru stated before a shell went off near him and tore at the bottom of his coat fraying it slightly.

"All right then just do what you're going to do quickly." His ally then started to deflect shots that were about to hit Kiru as well as himself "I won't be able to keep this up forever.

"Okay." Was all Kiru said in response as he began to focus and the flames surrounding Fallen Angel began to grow larger and crackle as more energy was pushed into them.

From her spot across the creek Rain could see what was happening and finally worked up the courage to act. _"I want let them hurt Kiru or kill him because…"_ Rain cut off her train of thought right there "Now's not the time for that. Now's the time for action." She concluded as she revved Sleipnir's engine and set out on a collision for the fringes' of the Heartless' circle.

"Now Kiru it's my turn to help you!"

The Gunslinger was starting to wear out. He knew what the kid was trying to do because he had seen him perform the attack from the edges of the forest when he had first used it. However, he also knew that after he performed the attack this time around he probably wouldn't even be able to move afterwards just because of the energy consumption.

"_Damn. If we don't take out all these Heartless with this attack then I'll have to finish the rest alone"_ The gunmen realized _"and depending on the strength of this next attack that could go from mildly annoying to seriously dangerous."_

The gunmen's thoughts were suddenly interrupted, as he had to entirely focus on knocking away a shell with his armored left arm.

"Oh to hell with it." He muttered "Will cross that bridge when we get to it." He then refocused his attention to defending Kiru and himself, while simultaneously pushing his body closer, and closer to the limit.

Kiru was almost done charging up the Fallen Fire attack when he heard the distinct roar of a motorcycles engine...his motorcycle's engine.

Rain was the first thought that popped into Kiru's battle strained brain _"What is she doing? Is she running away? What's happening? I can't see because of all the dust and debris being kicked up by these damn Heartless!_

His questions were soon answered as the Rain ridden Sleipnir broke through and then plowed through the outer sides of the Heartless' circle either knocking the dark creatures out of the way or destroying them.

"Kiru!" She shouted to her awestruck friend "Take em out!" She finished shooting him an encouraging smile and a wink as well.

"I will protect Rain!" Kiru thought defensively as he sheathed Redeemed Demon in the harness on the back of his coat and gripped Fallen Angel with both of his hands "Time to repent for and be cleansed of your sins you little bastards!" Kiru roared as a torrent of black flames was once again released from Fallen Angel and tore into the Heartless' ranks.

Rain plowed back through the Heartless and got a safe distance away from the Heartless so as not to get in Kiru's way as section-by-section groups of Heartless were burned to nothingness.

Even the gunmen started to get an idea of the damage being done by Kiru's attack as slowly, little, by little he could feel the number of shots he had to block begin to decrease as the Heartless started to realize what was happening and tried to escape from what could be metaphorically called death's scythe.

As time wore on though Kiru's attack began to lose force until at last Fallen Angel slipped from his grasp and he collapsed onto the ground.

The gunslinger who had taken the brief respite provided by Kiru's counterattack to reload his gun walked over to the fallen warrior and observed the damage done to the Heartless. Between Rain's ramming and Kiru's fire there were now seventeen armored knights and thirty-two Cannon Guns give or take, based on his calculations anyway.

"You still alive kid?" The man asked still facing the Heartless.

"You bet your ass I am buddy." Kiru replied as he rolled onto his back breathing heavily "But I probably couldn't move if I wanted to. Anyway how many of the little bastards are left?" He asked referring to the Heartless.

Before the gunslinger could say anything someone else made their presence known "Right now the Heartless are the least of your concerns boy."

Every head on the battlefield turned to see Pete chuckling madly while also being surrounded by a strange azure light that seemed to pour from every inch of his body including the three bullet holes in his head.

"You should be dead." The gunmen coldly aimed his gun at the aura surrounded Pete and fired several rounds into his chest.

"Nice try Capey. But it'll take more than that to finish me because I have this!" Pete declared revealing the now glowing azure orb he had placed around his neck and as if to emphasize what he said all the rounds Kiru's ally had just pumped into Pete's body slowly popped back out and the wounds began to close and heal.

"That bastard. This time I'll kill him." Kiru struggled to rise from the ground but found himself unable.

"Don't worry boy I'll play with you soon but for now let me show you what real power is." Pete said as the light surrounding him intensified and his body began to change.

His mouth began to grow out and grow into a fanged muzzle while his knees snapped around with a loud crack and became reverse jointed forcing Pete to fall down on all fours as three horns sprouted and grew from his fore head. The next change was four tails with a diamond like spike on each end sprouting from Pete's back and large claws growing from his fingers and toes. At this point in the transformation Pete's legs and flanks were covered in wicked, spiked armor that seemed to appear from nowhere, as well as having a long azure mane grow at the top of his head and go to the end of his now long and well muscled neck. The final parts of Pete's transformation were a pair of fairly large, leathery, heavily frayed, bat like wings sprouting from his back, sections of his fur taking on a darkish blue color, and his body continually growing until he was almost as big as some of the trees surrounding the creek.

"Now behold the form of true power!" Pete's gruff voice seemed to echo out of the behemoth he had became as large globs of saliva dripped from his open muzzle.

Kiru, Rain, and the gunmen stared in awestruck horror at the monstrous form Pete had assumed.

"Now how in the hell do we kill that!?" Kiru questioned the gunslinger, his eyes still on Pete.

Before the gunmen could reply Pete once again interrupted him "NOW YOU WILL ALL DIE!"

As soon as the monster finished roaring it's statement azure energy began to accumulate at it's open mouth.

"Oh shit!" The gunmen cursed before turning to Rain "Get out of the way!" He then holstered his gun picked up Kiru and started to run.

Pete narrowed his eyes at the two warriors attempt to escape. He did not care about destroying the girl just those two, the man who tried to kill him and the other Keyblade master even if it meant destroying his own Heartless.

Pete then felt a tingle run through his body telling him he was done gathering energy "This is where I put them out of their misery." Pete grimaced from deep within the beast as the beam fired towards the fleeing pair.

The gunmen turned around to see two things one they were running in a completely different direction from Rain and Pete had just unleashed an azure colored, apocalypse in their direction.

"Damn it!" He yelled as he tried to run even faster but Kiru's added weight was slowing him down.

Behind him he could hear the sounds of the ground being ripped apart trees being vaporized, and water being superheated into steam, and even started to feel heat coming off of the monstrous azure colored beam.

It was at that point a thought entered his mind, a terrible thought that proposed a terrible idea, but it was an idea that could save them "Well Valentine it looks like you've got no choice…you'll have to become the demon."

The gunmen, who had just identified himself as Valentine stopped dead in his tracks and quickly but gently, set Kiru down on the ground along with his Keyblade before turning around.

What he saw was complete and utter chaos, which was ironic considering that's what he was about to become. All the Heartless left after Kiru's attack had been blasted to atoms, the creek had been partially destroyed, and the massive blue beam was slowly but surely tearing the ground asunder on it's way to it's true targets.

"What are you doing?" A deeply confused and slightly angry sounding Kiru shouted out.

"Saving our lives." Was all Valentine got out before a crimosn light surrounded him and just like Pete, he to began to change.

Kiru looked on watching with morbid fascination as Valentine completed his transformation.

"What are you?" Was all Kiru found himself able to choke out.

"For the moment you may call me Chaos. Now hang on this is gonna be rough!" Chaos warned as he held and extended his arms out to his sides projecting a large crimson energy field around the pair.

It was at that moment the apocalyptic beam struck the energy field and engulfed it causing those inside the field to have to close their eyes in order to not be blinded by the deadly light.

Meanwhile outside the deadly energy stream Rain watched the even tears streaming down her beautiful face. "NO!" She screamed her tears pooling up on Sleipnir's gauges and meters "Kiru can't be dead he just can't be because I…I…" She suddenly cut herself off as she went into another fit of sobbing turning her head away from the horrific light in front of her.

Pete couldn't help but chuckle. He had won!

"_There won't even be enough of them left to put together an atom!"_ He boasted internally as he began to stop the flow of energy streaming from his mouth. "Maleficent will have to reward me for this! I can't wait to tell her! And to top it off it'll put that bastard Sephiroth in his place to!" Pete continued to croon as the beam he fired finally ran it's course and stopped.

However, before Pete could continue to internally gloat he noticed that down below right where the beam had been focused the most was a small crimson energy field.

"NO WAY!" The beast roared as he saw the field suddenly shatter revealing it's occupants to be completely unharmed. But the thing that caught Pete's attention the most was Valentines' appearance.

He stood there defiantly with the appearance of the demon. He had Frayed bat like wings, a solid black body with brass looking boots and that metal claw still on his left arm. His hair was now spiked and had red areas in it, his eyes glowed a golden yellow color, and in his left pectoral there was a swirling white light.

Pete couldn't believe and what this "demon" did next shocked him even more.

Back on the ground Chaos' hands had started to gather up and charge energy in the form of a crimson ball.

"Kiru you still with me?" Kiru heard Chaos ask him.

"Yeah for the most part but what are you doing?" Kiru asked noting the charging crimson energy in Chaos' hands.

"I'm gonna try and drive this thing off." Chaos nodded towards Pete with his head.

"I hope you know what your doing." Kiru said as he turned his attention up to the surprised looking monster that was Pete.

"Don't worry I do." Chaos said nonchalantly as he aimed the large collection of crimson energy at Pete and with a mighty demonic cry fired off the orb, which then manifested itself as a massive stream of crimson energy and slammed into Pete's enormous chest knocking him backwards into the bridge which was destroyed by Pete's sheer massive size and the force with which he struck it.

From her vantage point nearby Rain was still crying but this time they were tears of joy that Kiru was still alive but she also had a dumbfounded look on her face because of what had just happened to Pete.

"What was that?" She found herself saying as she continued to look on in awed amazement as the scene unfolded.

Pete couldn't believe it. That pipsqueak had managed to knock him backwards and not to mention scorch his chest. Pete suddenly became very scared. If he could knock him backwards while he was transformed and survive a blast of the magnitude he had survived who knows what else he could do.

"_Time to retreat."_ The beast affrightedly concluded as it righted itself and began to flap it's own demonic looking wings "WE'LL SETTLE THIS ANOTHER DAY!" He called down to Kiru and Chaos who watched as he surprisingly flew off towards Gevalleen.

Back on the ground the crimson light once again surrounded Chaos except this time when it faded the gunslinger stood there instead of the demon.

"That was one hell of a trick." He heard Kiru comment from behind him.

"Thanks." Valentine replied somberly "I'm just glad it worked."

There was a long silence between the two, which seemed like it could last forever until the roar of Sleipnir's engine broke the serenity of the moment. Rain pulled the bike up beside the pair and making sure she put the stand down so it wouldn't fall dismounted and faced the two.

"Are you guys all right?" She asked them concern evident on her face.

It was Kiru that decided to answer, "Yeah pretty much. Except me being completely drained of energy." He smiled sheepishly up at Rain from the ground at Rain after he finished.

"That's good to hear." The blue haired girl looked very relieved "For a second I thought you were dead and I don't know what I would've done if you were" She leaned down and scooped Kiru's limp form up in her arms holding him gently a few tears starting to trail from her eyes.

"Thanks Rain you don't know how much it means to me to hear you say that." Kiru smiled at the gray-eyed girl warmly as he wiped the tears from her face. Suddenly Kiru found himself feeling a thousand times better than he had moments before.

They finally after a few moments the two broke apart and after Rain laid Kiru gently down on the ground turned to face Valentine.

"Thank you for helping us sir. We would most certainly have perished if not for you intervention and I especially thank you for saving Kiru." Rain bowed respectfully in front of Valentine.

"No problem I just wanted to help." Valentine said dismissively.

"By the way I never got to ask you your name back at the hotel friend. Just who are you?" Kiru looked up at the gun-toting warrior.

"My name." Valentine said in a dreamy voice that sounded very far away. He seemed to be entranced for a few moments after that as though remembering something that happened long ago and far away before he tensed back up and assumed what Kiru guessed to be his usual manner "My name is Vincent Valentine."

Authors Notes: Thank God that was the longest chapter I have ever written for anything. I'm so sorry it took so long but schools been a bitch, I've had a band competition every Saturday for the past six weeks and I usually have homework to finish up on Sundays. Not to mention band practice during the week and regular homework, so I hope you, the readers can find it in your hearts to forgive me. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it and I will definitely have the next one up a lot sooner.

Yours truly, Rau Le Creuset 88


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